Disgusting and unacceptable
Friday, 23 April 2010
Shamsher Chowdhury
Some members of the 'blessed students' organisation under the present political power matrix raped a girl in a remote village some time back. They sold a video of the entire bizarre act and then the matter was hushed up by a 'privileged' lawmaker who settled the matter in a vigilante style out of court. I hoped that things would get better after that incident. No, that did not happen. Instead, a series of no-less-horrific incidents has taken place in which young school- and college-going girls were victims of street Romeos and eve teasers. Shockingly, this resulted into some gruesome murders and suicides by a number of girls. As time progresses, the scenario keeps getting worse.
I am deeply distressed by these bizarre incidents. Holding trial of those who committed acts against humanity during our war of liberation is now a much talked-about subject. Certainly we are grateful to the ruling party because the trial will demonstrate, at least in a symbolic way, our respect to those 'martyrs' who gave their life during the war of liberation and those hapless women who were victims of rape. But may I ask here: are the cases of rape that took place in recent times any different from those during the the war of liberation? If so, then in what way? Should we take cognisance only of those that took place during the war of liberation just because it was a part of the ruling party's election manifesto? Are these rapes and the violation of the dignity of young innocent girls of today of less significance just because they happen to take place in independent Bangladesh? At a time when these incidents of lesser magnitude cannot be duly tackled and justice meted out to the families of victims, one is likely to question the capacity and the motive behind the holding of the trials of those guilty of committing crimes against humanity during the war of liberation. It bleeds my heart to see that all this is happening during the rule of an elected government that is headed by none other than the daughter of the Father of the Nation.
It is ironic that not a single culprit in those rape cases that have been reported in the media in the recent times has yet been brought to justice. There has been lot of sound and fury surrounding these incidents but no real action. Please do not tell me or give me the statistics of how many such incidents had taken place during the previous regimes. Those statistics should provide no excuse for condoning the afore-mentioned incidents and the like in the recent times.
Admittedly, there has been a serious depletion of moral values amongst our younger generation. But that does not mean we should simply sit back with folded hands and do nothing about it. Shame on us, shame on the whole lot of us, the so-called civil society members and the intellectual community who have chosen to stay away and not register even a word of protest. I find the whole matter absurd and bizarre. The worst of all, the perpetrators of the debilitating crime continue to issue threats to the families of the victims, pressurising them to remain quiet, not to raise their voices and file cases with the police stations. Of late, the police have found a novel way of not to register a case on the plea that it received no such complaint.
It is my observation that the concerned political authorities have decided to involve themselves only in issues that are "popular" and likely to advance their political interests. But let us not forget that in the final analysis we all are responsible for our acts to Allah.
I am aware of the fact that rapes, child molesting and serial killings do take place in the developed and the developing world also but the difference is that unlike us, there are conscious efforts on their part in nabbing the criminals all the time. As a matter of fact, many of them do get hauled up and brought to justice. Justice in this country is rather rare, selective and elusive.
As it is, our women are subjected to various forms of repression and surely we do not need the scourge of this developing cancer in the society.
In a democracy, provided ours is one, a government must be even-handed, ensure safety and security of its people at all times. Is that happening? I do not think so.
(The writer can be reached at e-mail: chowdhury.shamsher@yahoo.com)
Some members of the 'blessed students' organisation under the present political power matrix raped a girl in a remote village some time back. They sold a video of the entire bizarre act and then the matter was hushed up by a 'privileged' lawmaker who settled the matter in a vigilante style out of court. I hoped that things would get better after that incident. No, that did not happen. Instead, a series of no-less-horrific incidents has taken place in which young school- and college-going girls were victims of street Romeos and eve teasers. Shockingly, this resulted into some gruesome murders and suicides by a number of girls. As time progresses, the scenario keeps getting worse.
I am deeply distressed by these bizarre incidents. Holding trial of those who committed acts against humanity during our war of liberation is now a much talked-about subject. Certainly we are grateful to the ruling party because the trial will demonstrate, at least in a symbolic way, our respect to those 'martyrs' who gave their life during the war of liberation and those hapless women who were victims of rape. But may I ask here: are the cases of rape that took place in recent times any different from those during the the war of liberation? If so, then in what way? Should we take cognisance only of those that took place during the war of liberation just because it was a part of the ruling party's election manifesto? Are these rapes and the violation of the dignity of young innocent girls of today of less significance just because they happen to take place in independent Bangladesh? At a time when these incidents of lesser magnitude cannot be duly tackled and justice meted out to the families of victims, one is likely to question the capacity and the motive behind the holding of the trials of those guilty of committing crimes against humanity during the war of liberation. It bleeds my heart to see that all this is happening during the rule of an elected government that is headed by none other than the daughter of the Father of the Nation.
It is ironic that not a single culprit in those rape cases that have been reported in the media in the recent times has yet been brought to justice. There has been lot of sound and fury surrounding these incidents but no real action. Please do not tell me or give me the statistics of how many such incidents had taken place during the previous regimes. Those statistics should provide no excuse for condoning the afore-mentioned incidents and the like in the recent times.
Admittedly, there has been a serious depletion of moral values amongst our younger generation. But that does not mean we should simply sit back with folded hands and do nothing about it. Shame on us, shame on the whole lot of us, the so-called civil society members and the intellectual community who have chosen to stay away and not register even a word of protest. I find the whole matter absurd and bizarre. The worst of all, the perpetrators of the debilitating crime continue to issue threats to the families of the victims, pressurising them to remain quiet, not to raise their voices and file cases with the police stations. Of late, the police have found a novel way of not to register a case on the plea that it received no such complaint.
It is my observation that the concerned political authorities have decided to involve themselves only in issues that are "popular" and likely to advance their political interests. But let us not forget that in the final analysis we all are responsible for our acts to Allah.
I am aware of the fact that rapes, child molesting and serial killings do take place in the developed and the developing world also but the difference is that unlike us, there are conscious efforts on their part in nabbing the criminals all the time. As a matter of fact, many of them do get hauled up and brought to justice. Justice in this country is rather rare, selective and elusive.
As it is, our women are subjected to various forms of repression and surely we do not need the scourge of this developing cancer in the society.
In a democracy, provided ours is one, a government must be even-handed, ensure safety and security of its people at all times. Is that happening? I do not think so.
(The writer can be reached at e-mail: chowdhury.shamsher@yahoo.com)