Shocking crimes and mutilated justice systems

We are sickened by the report of yet another case of a stalker raping and mutilating a teenage girl in Mymensingh. The report in The Daily Star published on December 17, stated that the 16-year-old had moved to Dhaka to escape her stalker. However, when she went to visit her family in Ishwarganj, her stalker Shohag Mia, a college student, allegedly raped her and mutilated her genitals on Friday.     

This news appears in a series of gruesome incidents of sexual violence against women and children. Last month, a 35-year-old man abducted and raped a teenager over three days in Jamalpur's Melandaha upazila. In July, a 20-year-old woman filed a case against her stepfather for raping her for over eight years since she was 12. Various reports reveal that sexual violence against women has increased in 2017. According to Ain o Salish Kendra, up to 1,378 women were faced with rape, sexual harassment and other forms of violence in the first nine months of this year.

The father of the victim has rightly expressed his skepticism regarding the justice system since the accused were influential people. It is distressing that the hopelessness of the father is not misplaced. Time and again cases like this emerge and go unpunished by our legal system. Shohag Mia must be immediately arrested and punished after the case goes to trial. It is time we prioritised building a strong legal system that would ensure that rapists face severe consequences and the victims get justice quickly without having to wait for years.