Awareness of antidowry laws could save women
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Jharna Moni
FOR parents nothing can be more heartbreaking than seeing their young daughter's corpse covered in white sheets. Rozina Akhter's parents had such a misfortune a few weeks back.
The body of their beloved daughter Rozina, 20, was on a van at the Bishwamvarpur police station, Sunamganj. No, she did not die in a road accident or of a disease. Her husband had killed her for dowry.
Rozina was married off with Al Amin from the same upazila barely eight months ago. A few days after the marriage, the greedy husband began pressing Rozina for bringing money from her father, a demand difficult for him to meet.
Having failed to get the dowry, Al Amin got furious. Torture became the daily routine. On the fateful day, during an altercation Amin strangulated Rozina to death. He confessed to the police that he killed his wife.
On September 3, 2007, the national dailies carried a news with the headline, "Housewife commits suicide by setting herself on fire".
Shimul Rani Saba from Habiganj district had allegedly burnt herself to death as she could not any more endure torture by her husband and in-laws. She even did not think about her six-month-old daughter before ending her life. Her brother filed a case in this connection which is under trial.
Like Rozina and Shimul many other women are dying due to dowry, a social menace. Not that there is no law to deal with dowry. Law is there. It stipulates stringent punishment. But a lack of its enforcement is the problem.
The law was enacted in 1980 for preventing dowry. But dowry could not be stopped. According to experts, the law should be enforced. Amendments to a few of its provisions would remove the lacunae to get rid of the curse of dowry.
There is no accurate statistics of how many families are broken due to dowry. It is not known exactly how many women like Shimul and Rozina have to give life for dowry. Dowry affects not only women, but the whole society. Many families lose everything to meet the demand for dowry.
Often marriages arranged cannot take place at the last moment for dowry. For instance, Dhaka University's Ria (not her real name) had an affair with a man for four years. But she could not marry the man she loved because his parents would not approve of the marriage without dowry.
According to Women Oppression Cell of Women Affairs Department, the number of dowry-related cases, was over 2,500 in the current year. The actual number could to be much more.
According to clippings from 12 national dailies compiled by Bangladesh Mahila Parishad in 2006 a total of 274 women were murdered and 122 tortured for dowry. And the number is increasing day by day.
Besides the anti-dowry law, enacted in 1980, with provisions for stringent punishments for the offenders, another law, titled 'Women and Children Oppression Prevention Act, was enacted in 2000. Section 11 of this law also deals with dowry-related crimes. It stipulates that a person will be awarded death penalty for causing death to a woman for dowry and life imprisonment for attempted murder for causing injuries.
The laws could not prevent dowry-related crimes against women. "People forget about laws if they are not properly enforced," says Supreme Court lawyer Tobarok Hussain.
Many lawyers and human rights and civil society activities blame the better-off class for keeping the dowry practice alive. They said that the wealthy families give generous gifts to brides to show off their social status. The consequent competition of the wealthy people is transmitted to the middle and lower-class families, they observed.
Echoing them, Bangladesh Women Lawyers' Association executive director Salma Ali says, following the wealthy, middle and lower class-families lean to dowry. Everyone should be vocal against dowry to create social awareness against the menace.
Prof Dr Abdul Hakim, former director of Dhaka University's Social Welfare and Research Institute, called for an extensive campaign to publicise the law. The government, the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and media can launch the awareness campaign. People will have to be made aware about their responsibilities. Preventive programmes should be undertaken at the union level.
Human rights activists, lawyers and social scientists emphasised more on a sustained campaign to increasing public awareness about the existence of the two laws. A recent survey showed that 80 per cent of men and 90 per cent of women are not aware of the laws. Due to lack of publicity and enforcement, the two laws became ineffective and many women become casualties.
Out of 25 men and women, belonging to different professions, this writer spoke to 18 said that extensive awareness campaign about the existence of the two laws and their enforcement could solve the deteriorating dowry problem.
The law, however stringent it might be, cannot serve the objective if people do not know about it. Therefore, mass awareness about the existence of the two laws and their strict enforcement will help get rid of the social menace.
...........................
— NewsNetwork
FOR parents nothing can be more heartbreaking than seeing their young daughter's corpse covered in white sheets. Rozina Akhter's parents had such a misfortune a few weeks back.
The body of their beloved daughter Rozina, 20, was on a van at the Bishwamvarpur police station, Sunamganj. No, she did not die in a road accident or of a disease. Her husband had killed her for dowry.
Rozina was married off with Al Amin from the same upazila barely eight months ago. A few days after the marriage, the greedy husband began pressing Rozina for bringing money from her father, a demand difficult for him to meet.
Having failed to get the dowry, Al Amin got furious. Torture became the daily routine. On the fateful day, during an altercation Amin strangulated Rozina to death. He confessed to the police that he killed his wife.
On September 3, 2007, the national dailies carried a news with the headline, "Housewife commits suicide by setting herself on fire".
Shimul Rani Saba from Habiganj district had allegedly burnt herself to death as she could not any more endure torture by her husband and in-laws. She even did not think about her six-month-old daughter before ending her life. Her brother filed a case in this connection which is under trial.
Like Rozina and Shimul many other women are dying due to dowry, a social menace. Not that there is no law to deal with dowry. Law is there. It stipulates stringent punishment. But a lack of its enforcement is the problem.
The law was enacted in 1980 for preventing dowry. But dowry could not be stopped. According to experts, the law should be enforced. Amendments to a few of its provisions would remove the lacunae to get rid of the curse of dowry.
There is no accurate statistics of how many families are broken due to dowry. It is not known exactly how many women like Shimul and Rozina have to give life for dowry. Dowry affects not only women, but the whole society. Many families lose everything to meet the demand for dowry.
Often marriages arranged cannot take place at the last moment for dowry. For instance, Dhaka University's Ria (not her real name) had an affair with a man for four years. But she could not marry the man she loved because his parents would not approve of the marriage without dowry.
According to Women Oppression Cell of Women Affairs Department, the number of dowry-related cases, was over 2,500 in the current year. The actual number could to be much more.
According to clippings from 12 national dailies compiled by Bangladesh Mahila Parishad in 2006 a total of 274 women were murdered and 122 tortured for dowry. And the number is increasing day by day.
Besides the anti-dowry law, enacted in 1980, with provisions for stringent punishments for the offenders, another law, titled 'Women and Children Oppression Prevention Act, was enacted in 2000. Section 11 of this law also deals with dowry-related crimes. It stipulates that a person will be awarded death penalty for causing death to a woman for dowry and life imprisonment for attempted murder for causing injuries.
The laws could not prevent dowry-related crimes against women. "People forget about laws if they are not properly enforced," says Supreme Court lawyer Tobarok Hussain.
Many lawyers and human rights and civil society activities blame the better-off class for keeping the dowry practice alive. They said that the wealthy families give generous gifts to brides to show off their social status. The consequent competition of the wealthy people is transmitted to the middle and lower-class families, they observed.
Echoing them, Bangladesh Women Lawyers' Association executive director Salma Ali says, following the wealthy, middle and lower class-families lean to dowry. Everyone should be vocal against dowry to create social awareness against the menace.
Prof Dr Abdul Hakim, former director of Dhaka University's Social Welfare and Research Institute, called for an extensive campaign to publicise the law. The government, the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and media can launch the awareness campaign. People will have to be made aware about their responsibilities. Preventive programmes should be undertaken at the union level.
Human rights activists, lawyers and social scientists emphasised more on a sustained campaign to increasing public awareness about the existence of the two laws. A recent survey showed that 80 per cent of men and 90 per cent of women are not aware of the laws. Due to lack of publicity and enforcement, the two laws became ineffective and many women become casualties.
Out of 25 men and women, belonging to different professions, this writer spoke to 18 said that extensive awareness campaign about the existence of the two laws and their enforcement could solve the deteriorating dowry problem.
The law, however stringent it might be, cannot serve the objective if people do not know about it. Therefore, mass awareness about the existence of the two laws and their strict enforcement will help get rid of the social menace.
...........................
— NewsNetwork