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ActionAid Bangladesh
As people around the world saw the dawn of a new millennium with joy,
a young couple out together with the same joy in their hearts, had their lives destroyed. In the heart of Dhaka's university area a young woman was brutally stripped of her clothes, assaulted and molested by a bunch of young men, who were just having fun!!
They attacked her, tore her clothes off her while her husband watched
helplessly, and carried her to the Art Faculty's building where she
was further assaulted/molested. The newspapers are sketchy about the
details and the details are not important. The fact that this happened
is what is important for us.
I bring this to your attention because for the past few years
"stripping clothes off a woman" has become a regular feature of
Dhaka's New Year's celebrations. Every 1st January, I open the
newspapers only to read about another woman who was attacked and
stripped of her garments.
What kind of men are these? Where are they from? What kind of families
do they belong to? Have they no female relatives? Surely they have
mothers, sisters, loved ones, daughters?
I can not even begin to imagine how she felt and how this will forever
taint her life. When something like this happens in the presence of
hundreds of people, who stood by and watched this inhumane act, it
makes you think about the moral void in this country.
She will always look back to that day with fear and no doubt her
nightmares will last for many days to come. Even after we have
forgotten about it, she will remember.
Apparently, a few arrests have been made but I doubt that any
worthwhile action will be taken. Men seem to think that stripping a
woman is good fun and that they will get away with it. I have very
little faith in our judicial system and somehow these men will slip
away. Not so long ago, on another university campus, politically
backed goons were raping women left, right and center. They had the
audacity to "celebrate" their 100th Rape with sweets, those who
refused to 'celebrate' were threatened!!
The women who spoke out against the men were harassed, threatened and
attacked because they dared to protest. The action taken against those
men is laughable and I won't embarrass myself further by mentioning
how leniently they were dealt with.
I was informed that in Bangladesh a rape victim needs a witness to
bring charges against her rapist!
I am filled with awe at the courage of the young woman who was
attacked on New Year's eve. She has dared to file a case against those
men and has had the strength to face a roomful of unsympathetic
observers and speak about her ordeal.
I am sorry to say that in my country we have no respect for women.
It's a sad truth but it is a fact.
Everyday women and young girls are attacked physically and tortured
mentally. A girl can not refuse to marry someone because he throws
acid on her, a woman unable to meet dowry demands is burned with acid
or strangled to death (suicide?!), a young girl refusing to have an
affair has acid thrown on her so that she can be with no other, girls
are killed, raped, kidnapped, gang raped, murdered, bought and sold,
forced to do the things they don't want to, deprived of any support,
help or opportunities. The list is endless and the pain, shame and
hopelessness of the situation is unbearable.
I hope my sisters across the world will join with me to pray for a
world where men don't have the right to do this to a woman. Let's take
a minute to think about her and give her our support.
I hope that next year there won't be another...
Thank you for listening.
Naheed Kamal
Sponsorship Communications Officer
ActionAid Bangladesh
Hs 41, Rd 8
Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1205
Bangladesh
Ph: 088-02-811763, 811802.
Email: naheed@aab.agni.com
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