Sex workers back again, this time with court order
Sex workers back again, this time with court order
Sex workers, earlier ousted from Kandapara brothel in the town, have started returning there, following a High Court order.
They started entering the 200-year-old brothel around 8:00pm on Monday and the number of the returnees, including house owners and sex workers, rose to around 150 by yesterday afternoon.
Earlier on July 11, religious zealots under the banner of Asamajik Karjokolap Protirodh Committee forced around 1500 inmates of the brothel, including some 700 sex workers, leave the place.
On December 9, Fawzia Karim Feroze, president of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association, filed a writ petition to the High Court (HC) on behalf of the sex workers, seeking directions for their safe living at the brothel.
An HC bench comprising Justice Dr Quazi Reza-ul-Haque and Justice Abu Taher Mohammad Saifur Rahman issued a rule nishi directing the secretaries of home and local government ministries, deputy commissioner and superintendent of police of Tangail, and president and general secretaries of Asamajik Karjokolap Protirodh Committee to provide protection for the sex workers' safe staying at the place.
Visiting the area yesterday, this correspondent saw the sex workers re-constructing their houses that had been demolished by the ousters.
“As citizens of the country, we have right to stay on our land. This time we have come back with a court order,” said sex worker Morzina Begum, also a house owner at the brothel.
The ousted sex workers who had taken shelter at different places are now returning, said another house owner Aklima Begum Akhi, also president of sex workers' organisation Nari Mukti Sangha.
"The High Court has issued an order, directing us to provide security to the returnee brothel inmates. The process is on to hand over the land of the brothel to its owners," said Mahbub Hossain, deputy commissioner of Tangail.
Meanwhile, Asamajik Karjokolap Protirodh Committee in a meeting at Tangail Central Mosque yesterday announced that they would hold a press conference today and procession and rally in the town tomorrow.
"As Muslims it is our religious duty to move against the sex trade. We will fight legal battle regarding the matter,” said Maulana Abdul Aziz, president of the committee.