Sexual harassment rampant in public transports
Sexual harassment in public transport has become another awful experience which females have to deal with almost every day in cities including Dhaka.
These harassments come in various forms like inappropriate touching, penetrating stares, lewd gestures or comments and sex attacks, and most of the victims cannot and sometimes do not protest.
Jasmin Papri, a working woman in Dhaka, said public buses have become a golden opportunity for some pervert male passengers. "If you are a female passenger then you will face numerous problems and a female passenger means anyone can touch her in an inappropriate way," she added.
“Once I had to get engaged in a battle of words with passengers when she protested such behaviour of a fellow male passenger in a public bus. It is not that easy to protest, as all male passengers might go against you, but we should not spare anybody," Papri added.
This correspondent also talked to a dozen of female passengers who had experienced such horrendous incidents.
Tamana Tanjila, a private university student, describing her journey said, "First of all, there is a negative attitude that drivers should not take female passengers. If a female passenger boards, male passengers do not want to give her a minimum space to at least stand up. And when she tries to manage within that she will certainly come across some unwanted touches."
Another passenger Ripa said, "Bus helpers are also culprits. In the name of helping passengers getting off the bus they take advantage.”
Advocate Salma Ali, executive director of Bangladesh Mahila Ainjibi Samity, said, "You will not find anybody who is not familiar with this unexpected experience. It has become a common problem now.”
“There should be symbolic protests on the spot and female passengers should expose such perverts immediately. Then she can file a case and if police refuse to take the case, we can help," she added.
Salma Ali said there should be effective hotlines for emergency and immediate help service.
About inadequate supply of buses for women, she said, “There are some BRTC buses but those are found to be used by male passengers too. We have seen a photo on the front page of a newspaper recently."
Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) Deputy General Manager (operation) Almas Ali said there are 16 buses exclusively for female passengers in the city which are available on 12 routes.
But many passengers alleged that most of the time these buses are not found on roads.
"Most of the problems will get solved once the gap between the demand and supply chain gets minimised and we also need to change our attitude towards our fellow passengers," Dr M Shafiq-Ur Rahman, associate professor of the department of Urban and Regional Planning, Jahangirnagar University, said.
Dr Rahman, who had worked on the issue before, said there should be strict law to punish such perpetrators so that they will not repeat such activities.