Saira Rahman for Odhikar

[Ed. Note: The report of the human rights group Odhikar about violence against women in Bangladesh in 2000 has been edited to create the story below.]

Like many women around the world, women in Bangladesh have had to face violations to their human rights year after year. These acts of violence are both public and domestic - rape, acid throwing, fatwas (religious decrees by Islamic scholars), violence due to the non-payment of a dowry, etc. In Bangladesh, there are both social reasons and legal loopholes that are the source of violence against women. Religious and cultural norms, discriminatory and defective laws, the denial of appropriate property rights, the failure to implement international instruments relating to women's rights and other related factors have created a negative environment for women who are commonly perceived as burdens to their families, a social status that renders them vulnerable to various forms of violence and exploitation. The country has several laws specifically protecting women's rights to life and safety and that severely punish offenders of crimes against women. The penal code, criminal procedure code, Dowry Prohibition Act, etc., all contain provisions punishing those who dare commit any crime against women. However, it is unfortunate to note the severe downward slope that the implementation of laws has taken in the past few years. Indeed, there has not been any measure taken to strictly implement laws protecting women. Because of this lack of enforcement, crimes perpetrated against women have increased. Although the Law Commission did make a recommendation that present laws need to be amended and new provisions added if necessary, this advice has gone unheeded by the government.

Violence against Women in 2000

There are many women's organisations that document various forms of violence against women. Odhikar, however, includes such incidents where they are part of the organisation's human rights agenda - political repression and violence by law enforcement agents. The organisation is, however, also conducting a project involving the violation of women and children's rights, and thus, some incidences of acid-throwing and rape have been reported. According to investigations carried out by the organisation under this project, one thing has clearly been learned: despite laws protecting women's rights and punishing offenders of crimes against women, there is a continuous lack of implementation and disinterest shown by responsible government agencies.

Acid-Throwing

In 2000, Odhikar recorded 186 incidents of acid-throwing compared to 178 incidents in 1999 and 101 in 1998. According to Odhikar's documentation, 33 of the victims in 2000 were between the ages of 6 and 15. In a majority of cases, the primary reasons for the perpetration of this crime were jealousy, the refusal of advances and revenge after an argument.

Rape

Rape is now probably one of the most common forms of violence against women in Bangladesh. Unfortunately, despite the fact that in most cases the violator is known to the victim, nothing is done to bring the former to justice. Usually money and muscle are the reasons why the crime goes unpunished. In most of the investigations conducted by Odhikar, the victim's family was too poor and ignorant of the law to seek legal recourse. In one case, the victim's father, a rickshaw puller, told Odhikar that he "did not know the lawyer's name but knew what he looked like." In another incident, the lawyer was demanding payments for every appearance and asking the court for more time. The mother of the victim in this case had no more money to give the lawyer and is now at the mercy of the Bangladesh Mahila Porishod.

Case Study

On Nov. 18, 2000, people who opened their daily papers were aghast on being faced with the news of the rape of Nasima Khatun and her stepdaughter Ozufa Shundari, who was subsequently murdered. On Nov. 25, Odhikar went to the village of Berbinni in the district of Jhenaidha to carry out an investigation of the incident.

When the investigators went to Berbinni, at Horinakundu, they could not find the mother, Nasima Khatun, at home. Her father-in-law Abdur Bishwas informed Odhikar that she was undergoing treatment in the Jhenidaha Sadar Hospital and that his son Monju Biswas, Nasima's husband, was in the Jhenidaha jail as an accused in a murder case. Mojnu Bishwas's first wife Hajera Khatun committed suicide by taking poison, leaving two children, Ozufa Shundari and Fuli. After the death of his first wife, Majnu Bishwas married Nasima Khatun, daughter of Amir Uddin of the same village.

Three or four neighbours who wish to remain anonymous told Odhikar that on the night of Nov. 17 at about 10:00 o'clock Nasima took Ozufa to the toilet outside of their house. At that time, a group of people gagged them and forcefully took them to the betel leaf boroj (plantation) belonging to Shamshul Islam that is adjacent to the village. They raped both of them and murdered Ozufa.

The neighbour women said they learned of the incident from Nasima herself. They also said Nasima could recognise some of the rapists, including Moinuddin, who is the son of Jainuddin, Jainuddin's son-in-law Shamsuddin, Jahar Ali's son Kamal and Gahar Bishwas' son Mangal of the same village. They further said that on the morning of Nov. 18 at about 6 o'clock the day labourers who come from other villages to the boroj to work found Nasima on the ground senseless and found Ozufa naked and dead. When they informed the owner of the boroj and others, people gathered and sent Nasima to the Jhenidaha Sadar Hospital. Shamshul Islam informed police about the incident, who arrived at about 12 p.m. and sent Ozufa's body to Jhenidaha Sadar Hospital for an autopsy at about 2 p.m. On Nov. 19 at about 8 p.m., Ozufa was buried.

After the incident, a case was filed under the penal code. However, no case was filed under the Prevention of the Suppression of Women and Children Act of 2000, which would have been a more appropriate law under which to file the case.

Rape by Law Enforcement Officers

The protectors of society have become the violators as members of law enforcement and security agencies - the police, army personnel, etc. - continue to rape women. Very few police officers who rape women in custody are brought to justice as the State does nothing to punish them. One of the reasons for this neglect to prosecute law enforcement officers is perhaps because it is the police who conduct the investigations regarding crimes allegedly committed by their own colleagues. Furthermore, government investigation and inquiry commissions are created that take months to produce a single report, which is then not disclosed to the public. Thirteen women were raped by members of law enforcement agencies in 2000, the youngest being a girl of 6 who was raped by a police constable in Panchagar on June 17.

Dowry Violence

The demanding, giving and accepting of a dowry is an offence under the laws of Bangladesh. The practice, however, still prevails in many sections of society. One of the reasons for this persistence in demanding a dowry is rising unemployment among young males, especially in rural Bangladesh.

Often the bride's parents cannot contribute the whole amount of the dowry at once. However, they must pay a portion of it at the wedding ceremony. Later the demand for the rest of the dowry becomes intense, and the object of the brutality which follows a delayed payment is the wife. The dowry issue is probably the most common source of domestic violence in rural Bangladesh where not only the husband but his parents and relatives take part in reminding the wife that the remaining payment is still due. The incidents of murder or attempted murder are regular items in the country's daily newspapers.

Case Study

On Oct. 9, 2000, 18-year-old Rahima Khatun of Jehnaigati in Sherpur was beaten by her husband and forced to leave her husband's home while her six-month-old daughter Ontora was murdered. Rahima told Odhikar investigators that she had been married for four years to Abdul Wahab, who drives a rickshaw van and is a habitual gambler. He had sold what little property he had to pay his gambling debts. After he began stealing from home to pay off his debts, his father threw him out of the house. He then took his wife to live on the homestead of his sister and brother-in-law.

Under such circumstances, Rahima was constantly pressured by her husband to bring the rest of her dowry from her father's house. This took the form of beatings and other kinds of physical and mental violence. Soon this violence became a common part of her daily life, and even her sister-in-law and her husband joined in the verbal and sometimes physical abuse. At one point, her father, a poor farmer, managed to scrape together 10,000 takas (US5) for his son-in-law, which then led to even more demands.

On Oct. 8, after a severe beating from her husband, Rahima took Ontora and went to her father's house. The next morning her brother gave her some rice and 50 takas (US.92) and sent her back home. On seeing her, her husband became violent and began to beat her again. He pushed her out of the house and told her to go back to her father's home. He forcibly kept Ontora with him. Rahima had no choice but to return to her father's house. The next day Wahab's younger brother came to her bearing the news that Ontora had died. Fearing that she may be harmed, the upazilla chairman and local elders restrained her from going to see her daughter. Her sister's husband went instead and found that the child had been buried.

On Oct. 12, Rahima's father filed a case against Wahab in the court of the cognizance magistrate in Sherpur. Immediately on hearing the news Wahab went to the local chairman, who was politically influential, and both of them, along with the same upazilla chairman who prevented Rahima from seeing her child, began to pressure Rahima's family to retract the case. On Oct. 20, a shalish was arranged, and Wahab was forced to give Rahima 1,400 takas (US9) as "compensation." However, her family was told to withdraw the case. Rahima told Odhikar investigators that her family did not have the economic support to continue the case and decided to terminate the case. She also does not want to return to her husband's home, for she is afraid that she will meet the same fate as her six-month-old daughter.

Women in the Political Process

What about the participation of women in the reserved seats of Parliament? Reserved seats were introduced so that women could take part in policy planning. Everyone knows though that the reserved seats for women are "vote banks," and the 30 "ornaments" who sit in Parliament have no opinion other than the views of their leader. The provision for reserved seats is to end in 2001, which will probably be a relief if these reserved seats are uprooted. What is needed is positive discrimination in respect of women's empowerment and access to actual power. Political parties should give one-third of their total nominations to women candidates in the national elections.

Conclusion

The increase in crimes against women and acts of violence against them raises serious questions regarding the effectiveness, transparency and accountability of those responsible for maintaining law and order in the country. It shows to what extent the law and order situation has deteriorated, especially in the case of the inhuman crime of rape perpetrated on children. It is also disturbing to note that even acts of violence against women, perpetrated by people who are well-known and thus identifiable, slip out of the grasp of the supposedly "long arm of the law."

The newly introduced Women and Children Repression (Special Provisions) Act of 2000 is a small improvement on the ordinance of the same name of 1995, which has now been repealed. The new law provides for stringent punishment for offenders and considers their offences non-bailable. What good though will the introduction of new laws do when the whole infrastructure is weak with pockets of corruption and existing laws not implemented? No, we do not need new laws, but we must be more realistic and identify genuine violence against women which have no remedies or punishment yet. These can be included in the laws already in force. For example, there is no law presently against domestic violence; the crime is still seen more as a social norm than a legal matter. Provisions against this crime could be included in the penal code. In order to improve the lives of women, the various state mechanisms need to tackle and amend the realities of indifferent police officers, corruption, the criminalisation of politics and the poor participation of women in policymaking and then rewrite the laws that already exist in Bangladesh.