Certainty of police action must to stop rape, related violence in Bangladesh
The Chhatra League, the ruling Awami League’s students wing, in Bangladesh has once again made the headlines for what is ignominious for the organisation. A group of Chhatra League activists who are mostly former students of Murari Chand College in Sylhet gangraped a woman, picked up along with her husband from the college campus at gunpoint on Friday evening and taken to a hostel of the college, after confining the man to a room. The shocking incident, which is one too many, is enough to bring to the fore the vulnerability of women and the impunity with which powerful quarters act. The police, however, could rescue the couple about 10:30pm from a room of the hostel, meant for college teachers, where Chhatra League leaders and activists have lived illegally for long, even during the COVID-19 emergency when the hostel has remained closed. The police in a raid on the hostel about 2:00am on Saturday seized some weapons, including a light gun and four machetes, from the room. The victim was sent to hospital. An investigation has been initiated, asking the committee to submit the report in seven working days. General students of the college on Saturday blocked the Sylhet–Tamabil Road, demanding an early arrest of the perpetrators. Two were arrested on Sunday.
The government should rise above partisan interest and should in no way influence the justice dispensation in the case at hand to break the culture of impunity that is believed to have encouraged for long the commission of such heinous crimes. Political, socio-cultural and rights groups on Saturday also rose in protests against frequent incidents of rape of and violence against women against the backdrop of the Sylhet college incident that took place on September 25, another incident of rape of a mentally challenged national minority woman reportedly by settlers in Khagrachari on September 24 and the murder of a schoolgirl by a stalker on the city outskirts of Savar on September 20. The groups demanded an immediate arrest of the perpetrators, an impartial investigation of the incidents and exemplary punishment of the people found guilty so that such incidents do not recur. There are laws that deal with such crimes and the consequent punishment. But it seems that the legislation alone cannot stop such incidents from happening mostly because the laws are not effectively applied, leaving women unsafe. The certainty of action against the perpetrators appears to be a way out from this situation and the responsibility lies with the police in their strict enforcement of the laws, impartial investigation and their resolve to lead the case into conviction on perpetrators being found guilty in the shortest possible time.
If the legislation is not enough to stop such crimes, the laws should be amended accordingly. If the police fail to discharge their responsibilities, they should be held to account. And the government must not influence the investigation in the interest of justice dispensation and the ruling Awami League must make leaders and activists of its student and youth wings behave as it has been long since they started making the headlines for wrong reasons, bringing in enough of shame for the organisation. People at large should also raise their voice loud enough in a sustained manner to make all this happen.
Courtesy: New Age
