Violence Against Women: Pain far more than meets the eye

A suffocating feeling of “guilt” has engulfed her ever since her father was brutally beaten up by her stalkers in October. She cannot let go of this feeling as she holds herself responsible for the attack.

A third-year student of a Jhenidah college, Sharmin Aktar stopped going to her college well before her father, Shahanur Alam, was assaulted. Yet, the stalkers swooped on Shahanur with iron rods after he had complained to village leaders against the culprits. His legs had to be amputated.

“It's very shameful for me. It seems I'm responsible for all this,” said 22-year-old Sharmin, breaking down in tears. She was speaking at a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club yesterday.

The press conference was organised by We Can, an organisation working to end violence against women, marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The organisation also came up with some statistics on violence against women in the country.

Sharmin said the ordeal would haunt her for the rest of her life.

“The society has put me in this situation ... My father is the lone earning member of our family. I'm a girl. What'll I do now? I can't express how I am going through such a painful situation.”

Sharmin said the attackers were threatening and pressing them to withdraw two cases filed in connection with stalking and injuring her father. She demanded exemplary punishment of the culprits.

Talking about Sharmin's self-blaming mentality, rights activist Sultana Kamal, also the chairperson of We Can, said, “As a woman, this mindset has affected her [Sharmin]. What has she done to see her father losing his legs?”

“... It's a very painful aspect for women that they are attacked and tortured. But they are also made to think that the incident happened because of them ... It is one kind of torture.”

She said law enforcement agencies could not find the culprits until the High Court directed Jhenidah police to arrest the accused.

Mentioning the arrest of 16 people in the two cases, Sultana Kamal said, “Our past experience tells us that arrests of a number of culprits often reduce the gravity of the offence committed by the prime accused.”

Rawsan Hossain, father of Suraiya Akter Risha who was stabbed to death by her stalker in broad daylight, was also present.

“I want no such incident to happen again to anyone,” he said, with tears welling up in his eyes. “I have no words to say. I want quick punishment.”

Risha was a class-VIII student of Willes Little Flower School in the city.

Like Sharmin and Risha, there are hundreds of women becoming victims of violence across the country.

According to We Can, between January and September this year, 152 women were gang-raped, 301 were raped, 26 were killed after rape, 149 were killed by their husbands, 111 were injured by stalkers and 26 were acid victims.

The statistics were prepared on the basis of media reports and information collected from Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK). All the victims were aged between six and 30.

Quoting data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the organisation said only 23 percent of women talk about torture and only three percent seek legal aid.

Of those seeking justice, only 10 percent get justice, said Sultana Kamal. “This means a very poor number of women get justice.”

We Can urged policymakers, politicians, government and judicial officials and law enforcers to show zero tolerance towards violence against women. It also demanded speedy trials of culprits.

Also, the “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign” kicked off yesterday and the campaign would end on the Human Rights Day on December 10.