Gang-rape in the capital

THERE are no words to describe our outrage at the horrific news that a 21-year-old indigenous woman has been gang-raped on the streets of Dhaka. As she was waiting to catch a bus after finishing her work, a group of men, one of whom she could identify, forcibly shoved her into a microbus and sped away. The barbarians, who had been stalking her for several days, carried out the crime in the moving vehicle, threatening her with sharp weapons when she tried to protest. The incident, which is unnervingly similar to the Delhi rape two and a half years ago, brings to the fore, once again, just how unsafe the streets of Dhaka are for women and girls.

Incidents of sexual violence like this happen all too often in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country. Last year alone, 626 women were raped and 208 women were gang-raped, according to Ain O Salish Kendra. As inhabitants of this city, we may raise our voices in collective outrage from time to time when such appalling stories come to our notice, but within a few days, we forget these victims and absolutely nothing changes. It is shameful that, as a nation, we have failed, time and again, to take any serious measures to address the burning issue of violence against women; even the Pahela Baishakh incident could not wake us up to the vulnerable status of women in this city. Instead, the apathetic attitude of our state institutions, particularly law enforcement agencies, has given a general license to offenders to carry out their crimes with impunity.  

We demand that the culprits be arrested immediately and exemplary punishment be meted out. The government must also take urgent steps to make the country safe for women, particularly indigenous women, who remain among the most vulnerable to sexual violence.