Public transport becoming increasingly unsafe for women

The recent incident of gang-rape and murder of Shahinoor Akter Tania—a nurse at Ibne Sina Hospital’s Kalyanpur branch—on a moving bus is just a tragic reminder of how unsafe our public transports are for female travellers. We witnessed a similar atrocity being committed back in 2017 when Rupa Khatun, a law student, was gang-raped and murdered inside a bus by the bus driver and his associates. These kinds of incidents are occurring repeatedly. The reason behind such audacious indifference is the general impunity that most of these sexual predators enjoy. Every day, thousands of women use public bus services, so the authorities must take extra precautions, for instance, by increasing police patrolling at night, installing CCTV cameras in all buses and even appointing female bus drivers, for ensuring their safety. It is absolutely ridiculous that a woman has to fear for her safety in the very bus she is travelling in.