Addressing marry-your-rapist phenomenon

Grammyo salish or village arbitration still allows rapists to marry their victims to escape criminal prosecution, according to media reports. It is alarming that responsible authorities including police, community and political leaders have been playing a crucial role in such process. It permits the culprit men to have rape convictions overturned if they marry the women or girls they have raped, begetting a suicidal life for the victims. 'Marry your rapist' decisions shift the burden of guilt on to the victim and try to sanitise a situation which is criminal.

In a society somewhat dominated by patriarchy and misogyny, marry-your-rapist phenomenon paves the way for marital rape and may even end up in committing suicide by the victims. Through this kind of marriage, the rapist actually gets a formal legitimacy or a license to rape the victim for the rest of her life. Moreover, the issue of consent, which is the basic requirement of a marriage, remains a gray area in such wedlock. If we allow a perpetrator to legally marry his victim, he will encourage others to become rapists so that they can marry their desired women. So, it is high time that we addressed this issue and took pragmatic steps against such a barbaric process.

Bappi Mea,

Student of Faculty of Social Sciences,

University of Dhaka,

bappimea@outlook.com