A valiant teacher who died protesting Eve-teasing
Sunday, 31 October 2010
Md. Usman Ahmaddy
Eve-teasing, also known as stalking, is the harassment of women and usually takes place in public transport, streets, offices and public places. It has become a menace and growing by leaps and bounds to alarming proportions in recent time and female students of various educational institutions are major victims of this.
Mizan-ur Rashid (38), a man of integrity, a passionate caring and loving teacher, popular among his colleagues and students, was very vocal against eve teasing from the beginning. On knowing that the girls eve-teased by a few local youths was causing their poor attendance in college, Mizan rebuked and warned Rajon and Asif-- two accused of his death-- several times, resulting in their showdown against him by running a motorbike on him. This left him with deadly injuries to the head, an arm, and the left eye.
News of his death was the talk of the country for the whole week. From every corner of the country, thousands of people turned up to show their respect to Mizan for the noble cause of his death, with many activities like human-chain, rallies, processions, and so on. They called on all Bangladeshis to observe 23 October, the day on which he was attacked, as "Eve-teasing Prevention Day". They demanded the exemplary punishment of the accused arrested eve teasers.
Prime Minister took a stern oath to resist this menace by enacting a new law for the eve teasers, thus ensuring the women rights in the society to its full extent. She also assured the victim family of justice, while the office of PM pledged a job offer for Mizan's widow.
In another incident, Farzana-- a top student of class eight used to go school excited, but would come home flushed and humiliated. When the eve-teasers on the long-walk-way to school and home got violent, her parents complained. But in a patriarchal society they had to face questions on the modesty of their daughter and then they stopped her education and arranged her marriage to save her from the eve-teasers. Girls under this creepy condition in such a male dominating society are pretty common occurrences in Bangladesh.
A study of the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers' Association showed that almost 90 percent of girls aged 10-18 have undergone the experience of sexually motivated stalking in the public place. This figure is alarming. This unwanted situation mainly causes the girls to frequently drop out of school and into early marriages.
According to police record, 1269 cases were filed against the stalkers over the last one year. But most of the cases have been sitting for days after days in cold storage.
Now with this life-staking stand taken by Mizan alone as an example to protest against eve-teasing, this has put our fellow country men, especially teachers, in shame. Why, they ask, cannot teachers work unanimously to protest this serious social menace? Why they remain onlookers without organizing any type of protest or stand on this unacceptable condition?
Experts show the problem as attitudinal. The male dominated society should change this attitude of superiority for whom they have little respect. Moreover, if the teachers, government officials, religious and political leaders work together in the way that Mizan did, this social cancer can easily be eradicated.
It is a problem of males that they cannot rise together to solve. They are after all the fathers, brothers, lovers, sons of women they know to be invaluable to them. We are one. What happens to one woman happens to us all.
Mizan was laid to eternal rest with honour in a somber atmosphere at his family graveyard at Chalk Laxmipur in Charghat, Rajshahi on 25th October morning. While the coffin was being lowered into the grave, many others with the grieving family members of Mizan burst into tears. But his only child, a 4-year-old innocent, never understood why they took her father to this confined place. Is this the right time for playing hide and seek?
A source from a human rights organisation named Ain-O-Shalish Kendra (ASK) revealed that so far in 2010 at least 21 teenaged girls have taken their own lives across the country to save themselves from this severe insult as human beings. Another study shows that 35 percent of the eve teasers are anti-socials, 32 percent are students, and 33 percent of eve teasers belong to middle age. The lives of these bullies are also lost to this nonsense harassing task. Their potentials are lost.
According to police record, 1269 cases were filed against the stalkers over the last one year. But most of the cases have been sitting for days after days in cold storage.
The collective effort like public mobilization needs to be directed by society too, for ensuring the ill's absolute eradication from the society, thus making it a healthier one.
With the cost of lives-- Salam, Barkat, Jobbar, Rafiq-- we gained our freedom of speech in our own language of Bangla in the Language Movement of 1952 . With the sacrifice of 3 million people, we achieved our independence in 1971. With the price of the life of Nur Hossen in 1990, we got democratic freedom. So, movements took a death toll to make their causes successful. We can hope that the death of Mizan may create a strong ground to put the cause forward for women (including female students) to achieve JUSTICE. The symbolic meaning of his name is to give a full stop to eve-teasing.
We wish the death for noble reason may spread quickly from one voice to many throughout the country with the slogan: "Our Mizan, our voice".
Eve-teasing, also known as stalking, is the harassment of women and usually takes place in public transport, streets, offices and public places. It has become a menace and growing by leaps and bounds to alarming proportions in recent time and female students of various educational institutions are major victims of this.
Mizan-ur Rashid (38), a man of integrity, a passionate caring and loving teacher, popular among his colleagues and students, was very vocal against eve teasing from the beginning. On knowing that the girls eve-teased by a few local youths was causing their poor attendance in college, Mizan rebuked and warned Rajon and Asif-- two accused of his death-- several times, resulting in their showdown against him by running a motorbike on him. This left him with deadly injuries to the head, an arm, and the left eye.
News of his death was the talk of the country for the whole week. From every corner of the country, thousands of people turned up to show their respect to Mizan for the noble cause of his death, with many activities like human-chain, rallies, processions, and so on. They called on all Bangladeshis to observe 23 October, the day on which he was attacked, as "Eve-teasing Prevention Day". They demanded the exemplary punishment of the accused arrested eve teasers.
Prime Minister took a stern oath to resist this menace by enacting a new law for the eve teasers, thus ensuring the women rights in the society to its full extent. She also assured the victim family of justice, while the office of PM pledged a job offer for Mizan's widow.
In another incident, Farzana-- a top student of class eight used to go school excited, but would come home flushed and humiliated. When the eve-teasers on the long-walk-way to school and home got violent, her parents complained. But in a patriarchal society they had to face questions on the modesty of their daughter and then they stopped her education and arranged her marriage to save her from the eve-teasers. Girls under this creepy condition in such a male dominating society are pretty common occurrences in Bangladesh.
A study of the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers' Association showed that almost 90 percent of girls aged 10-18 have undergone the experience of sexually motivated stalking in the public place. This figure is alarming. This unwanted situation mainly causes the girls to frequently drop out of school and into early marriages.
According to police record, 1269 cases were filed against the stalkers over the last one year. But most of the cases have been sitting for days after days in cold storage.
Now with this life-staking stand taken by Mizan alone as an example to protest against eve-teasing, this has put our fellow country men, especially teachers, in shame. Why, they ask, cannot teachers work unanimously to protest this serious social menace? Why they remain onlookers without organizing any type of protest or stand on this unacceptable condition?
Experts show the problem as attitudinal. The male dominated society should change this attitude of superiority for whom they have little respect. Moreover, if the teachers, government officials, religious and political leaders work together in the way that Mizan did, this social cancer can easily be eradicated.
It is a problem of males that they cannot rise together to solve. They are after all the fathers, brothers, lovers, sons of women they know to be invaluable to them. We are one. What happens to one woman happens to us all.
Mizan was laid to eternal rest with honour in a somber atmosphere at his family graveyard at Chalk Laxmipur in Charghat, Rajshahi on 25th October morning. While the coffin was being lowered into the grave, many others with the grieving family members of Mizan burst into tears. But his only child, a 4-year-old innocent, never understood why they took her father to this confined place. Is this the right time for playing hide and seek?
A source from a human rights organisation named Ain-O-Shalish Kendra (ASK) revealed that so far in 2010 at least 21 teenaged girls have taken their own lives across the country to save themselves from this severe insult as human beings. Another study shows that 35 percent of the eve teasers are anti-socials, 32 percent are students, and 33 percent of eve teasers belong to middle age. The lives of these bullies are also lost to this nonsense harassing task. Their potentials are lost.
According to police record, 1269 cases were filed against the stalkers over the last one year. But most of the cases have been sitting for days after days in cold storage.
The collective effort like public mobilization needs to be directed by society too, for ensuring the ill's absolute eradication from the society, thus making it a healthier one.
With the cost of lives-- Salam, Barkat, Jobbar, Rafiq-- we gained our freedom of speech in our own language of Bangla in the Language Movement of 1952 . With the sacrifice of 3 million people, we achieved our independence in 1971. With the price of the life of Nur Hossen in 1990, we got democratic freedom. So, movements took a death toll to make their causes successful. We can hope that the death of Mizan may create a strong ground to put the cause forward for women (including female students) to achieve JUSTICE. The symbolic meaning of his name is to give a full stop to eve-teasing.
We wish the death for noble reason may spread quickly from one voice to many throughout the country with the slogan: "Our Mizan, our voice".