1,050 women raped in 2016
One thousand and fifty women were raped in the country last year and violence against women increased, said a Bangladesh Mahila Parishad report.
Of the rape victims, 166 women were gang raped while 44 women were killed after being raped, the report said.
The report goes on to add that 165 women were targeted and then raped, 120 were harassed and 80 others were victims of sexual harassment last year.
These incidents continued despite different government and non-government initiatives to stop violence against women, said parishad leader Rekha Chowdhury at a press conference at the parishad office in the capital yesterday.
“The gruesomeness of the violence against women challenged women empowerment and overall development of the country last year,” she said.
At the press conference, the parishad revealed statistics, based on reports published in 14 national dailies.
In 2015, as many as 1,007 women were raped in the country including 199 who were gang raped, said another set of statistics published by the parishad.
As many as 4,896 incidents of violence against women were reported in newspapers in 2016 and 4,436 such incidents were reported in 2015.
Rekha mentioned that the country saw gruesome incidents like Tonu being raped and killed “inside a cantonment”, Khadiza was targeted for killing on a university campus while schoolgirl Risha was stabbed to death on a busy street in the capital's Kakrail last year.
“The government should take a zero-tolerance policy to stop violence against women,” she said.
Speaking at the press conference, Mahila Parishad President Ayesha Khanam said strong political will was required for improving women empowerment in the country.
She said there were number of steps taken by the state which contradicted fundamental women rights.
Replying to a query on the parishad's concern, she said there should not be any compromise with elimination of child marriage.
Replying to another query, Khanam said they would assist law enforcers to bring women, who have become militants, to book.
“We will laud good steps taken by the state while we criticise and remain vocal against initiatives which may become obstacle to women empowerment,” she added.
At the press conference, the parishad raised a 19-point demand.
The demands include increase of reserved seats for women in parliament, increase of nomination of women from political parties, and scraping of the special provision from the Child Marriage (Restraint) Act, 2016.
Mahila Parishad General Secretary Maleka Banu, among others, was present at the press conference.
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