Online bullying aimed at protests, secularism

The large-scale barbaric sexual assault on women during the Pahela Baishakh celebrations was the moment when an everyday crime, both overlooked and concealed for a long time, was committed in an organised way, said a Supreme Court lawyer.

The female lawyer of the apex court along with a colleague filed two complaints with Banani Police Station on Tuesday after coming across Facebook posts they described as shocking, threatening, and sexually explicit.

They saw several posts like the one declaring, "I will openly rape you [girls] on the streets. I believe in direct action…  As long as you show [your skin] we will keep touching you."

All the posts are linked to the gruesome Pahela Baishakh attack, and The Daily Star has obtained the screenshots of the posts that were submitted to the police.

In disparaging words, one post by the username Arefin Ahmed Shehim goes on to denounce the “TSC issue”, suggesting that the assault was too small-scale.

"Such misogynist and hateful comments have swamped Facebook over the past week," the lawyers told The Daily Star yesterday, requesting anonymity.

Talking about her outrage, one lawyer said, “We simply wanted to encourage citizens to raise their voices in public and to law enforcement agencies instead of only being vocal in social media so that the authorities can see for themselves how real the threat is, how dangerously ubiquitous the problem is, and take necessary steps so that these men who are openly threatening to rape and assault women and actively encouraging and inciting others to participate in these crimes can be brought to justice.”

She added that many people spoke in support of such abhorrent sentiments, but the majority spoke out against these and were extremely upset. “There should be legal consequences for issuing such threats,” she said.

The GDs state that making such remarks is tantamount to encouraging, planning, and organising sexual crimes like sexual harassment, rape and molestation and thus warrants legal action.

A law expert and editor of Dhaka Law Report, Md Khorshed Alam Khan said threatening women with rape and any form of sexual violence was a crime under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act.

Asked what steps police are taking, Sheikh Shahenur Rahman, inspector (investigation) of Banani Police Station, said, “It is very difficult to identify people based on their Facebook profiles only. But the Detective Branch is working on it now."

Some 30 to 40 unidentified persons  molested around 20 females for about an hour near the Suhrawardy Udyan gate on Dhaka University campus on April 14. Ten days into the incident, the law enforcers are yet to arrest anyone.

The CCTV footage that police released on April 17 clearly shows multiple incidents of sexual assault on women by the rowdy men. Still, police claim the footage does not offer any evidence of sexual assault.

HATE PROPAGANDA AT ITS BASEST

The Daily Star has found a Facebook page titled "Deswa Official" which is filled with malicious posts against Nababarsha celebrations, secularism, freedom of women and the ongoing movement against sexual assaults on women on Pahela Baishakh.

It posted a photo in which a girl is holding a placard urging men to change their attitude towards women.

Introducing her as a Hindu, it wrote, "Hindus are spreading various confusing theories as part of their conspiracy to lead Muslims away from the practice of Purdah. A communal woman [name withdrawn] has worked behind this plot."

In another post, it made a number of demands: "1. Ban Pahela Baishakh in the Muslim majority country; 2. Ban forever the so-called new year celebration at DU-Ramna; 3. Cancel the leave on Pahela Baishakh as it would reduce the crowd automatically; and 4. Cancel all government patronisation of Pahela Baishakh."

The page even went on to label the school curriculums as anti-Islamic.

Sharing an image of Pahela Baishakh procession printed in what it claims to be the Page 2 of Bangla textbook of Class-V, an April 17 post says: "Do you think the tender mind of a child in a Muslim majority country should be tainted with Hindu culture?"

Referring to Bangladesh Chhatra Union leader Liton Nandi, who rescued a number of women from sex offenders during the Pahela Baishakh celebrations, a post says Liton is a Hindu and he acted only to protect his own religious culture and tradition, not to protect women.

It claimed in a post that the Bengali month of Baishakh was named after a Hindu god and anyone celebrating the onset of the month will be considered as "Mushriks" or apostates.  It also asked Muslims not to sing the Eso Hey Baishakh song, an inseparable part of the Nababarsha celebration.