Measures against eve-teasing
Saturday, 11 December 2010
Of late, eve-teasing has become a social issue that has put the nation into much peril. A college teacher named Mijanur Rahman had to die while protecting his own college students from the jaws of the eve-teasers. Parents are to sacrifice their lives to protect the dignity and honour of their near and dear female members. But what are the causes behind this social crisis? Eve-teasing, now in an epidemic form, was unprecedented in our society. We must focus on the causes of this social menace.
Abdul Wahab, a teacher of BRAC University, writes that Bangladesh got connected with Internet in 1996 with only 10,000 users that year. Now, the number of Internet users has gone up to ten million (one crore).
The young girls and boys are now exposed to the dangers of Internet world. In the days of Digital World, we cannot stop it altogether, but one thing we can do for certain, to raise awareness. It is easy to pass any law in Parliament, but it is not easy to raise social awareness.
Eve-teasing has something to do with drugs, pornography, internet browsing and, to top it all, political vandalism. So, while dealing with eve-teasing, these factors also need to be addressed.
Today female students are becoming victims of eve-teasing. It ranges from schools to universities. In the universities, it is in the worst from. In the past, Janangirnagar University recorded the worst examples of sexual harassment i.e. rape, wherein, a male student of this university threw a party upon completion of his 100th rape on the campus. This event shocked the nation. To worsen the matter, some teachers of this university also followed in the foot steps of their student to do the same crime. The authority of the university, however, took some stern decisions to stop such detestable crimes against woman. But, it has very little effect on our society. Though the civil society started mass awareness across the country to contain it, their effort has so far failed to cope with pace with the stalkers.
Various forms of eve-teasing
Eve-teasing has attacked our society in various forms. With all its forms it is destroying the society.
1. Eve-teasing with school going female students: At the adolescent age, male students while passing by a school make many indecent remarks hurting the female students. An adolescent young boy follows a girl from her school to her residence just to attract the attention of the girl. Such other ways of eave-teasing are passing bad comments and writing indecent letters etc. In some cases, some eve-teasers venture themselves to make a relation with a young girl forcibly. It puts the concerned girl into such a mental trauma that it is hard to bear. Following such mental trauma some young girls take their lives and thus a potential life comes to an end.
2. Eve-teasing on mobile: Eve-teasing on mobile phone has become the most popular form. A stalker, getting a mobile phone, starts teasing a girl in many ways. At first, he sends SMS in ornamental and rhetorical language to which a young girls easily falls victim as she is also an adolescent. Becoming a victim to this, a young girl develops a relation, on which that particular boy capitalises. Some intimate moments are captured by hidden camera or video recorder and these are later on circulated through the internet. That is a reason why mobile phone sometimes becomes a curse despite its multiple benefits.
3. Sexual harassment by internet: Of late the young boys and girls in the cities are used to chatting through internet by which they come closer to each other. Being adolescent, the boys and girls fall victim to their sensuality wExtreme world: Is Sweden
as clean as it seems?hich is hard to resist at least at the tender age.
Remedies
With the sudden influx of eve-teasing incidents, the government has taken a hard line regarding the matter. Many think that eve-teasing is hard to contain with the enforcement of law only. Some more comprehensive measures are to be taken. The government, the civil society and all stakeholders should work together hand in hand. Some remedies are recommended and they are as follows:
1. Enforcement of law: Although the government has amended the section of 508 of the CrPC and has set up some special mobile courts to address the problem, the functioning of these courts needs be increased to such an extent that they can cover the whole country.
2: Sports and games: These days the young boys and girls rush to cyber cafes rather than going to the playground. With a few playgrounds in the country, the young girls and boys have little scope to engage themselves in sports and outdoor games. The juveniles love to loiter in the girls' schools and colleges. So, the government has to address the problem with top priority by allocating necessary funds for playgrounds.
3. Restoration of old social values: The degradation of social values also contributes to it. So, we should focus on the religious rites and rituals which can prevent further destruction of the society. The imams of mosques, saints of temples, clergymen of churches, monks of pagodas can play a vital role in this regard as they lead and guide the people. The guardians are to look after their kids as well. They should be friendly to their kids so that the juvenile boys and girls can share their psychosomatic problems with their parents.
4. Employment generation: The jobless youths loiter in the streets and love teasing juvenile girls. So, if we can generate sufficient jobs for them, this problem can be better addressed.
5. Control on the satellite channels: The satellite channels have a serious effect on the society as they substitute our century-old culture with the western culture. So, there should be some sort of control on the satellite channels. It is to be noted here that the president of the USA Mr Obama does not allow his daughters to watch satellite channels.
6. Religious teaching in our education: Many critics think that religious teaching in our education may bring a good change in the society. We should impose religious teaching in education system right from primary school to university.
(The writer is the founder chairman of Eastern University and former vice-president of FBCCI)
Abdul Wahab, a teacher of BRAC University, writes that Bangladesh got connected with Internet in 1996 with only 10,000 users that year. Now, the number of Internet users has gone up to ten million (one crore).
The young girls and boys are now exposed to the dangers of Internet world. In the days of Digital World, we cannot stop it altogether, but one thing we can do for certain, to raise awareness. It is easy to pass any law in Parliament, but it is not easy to raise social awareness.
Eve-teasing has something to do with drugs, pornography, internet browsing and, to top it all, political vandalism. So, while dealing with eve-teasing, these factors also need to be addressed.
Today female students are becoming victims of eve-teasing. It ranges from schools to universities. In the universities, it is in the worst from. In the past, Janangirnagar University recorded the worst examples of sexual harassment i.e. rape, wherein, a male student of this university threw a party upon completion of his 100th rape on the campus. This event shocked the nation. To worsen the matter, some teachers of this university also followed in the foot steps of their student to do the same crime. The authority of the university, however, took some stern decisions to stop such detestable crimes against woman. But, it has very little effect on our society. Though the civil society started mass awareness across the country to contain it, their effort has so far failed to cope with pace with the stalkers.
Various forms of eve-teasing
Eve-teasing has attacked our society in various forms. With all its forms it is destroying the society.
1. Eve-teasing with school going female students: At the adolescent age, male students while passing by a school make many indecent remarks hurting the female students. An adolescent young boy follows a girl from her school to her residence just to attract the attention of the girl. Such other ways of eave-teasing are passing bad comments and writing indecent letters etc. In some cases, some eve-teasers venture themselves to make a relation with a young girl forcibly. It puts the concerned girl into such a mental trauma that it is hard to bear. Following such mental trauma some young girls take their lives and thus a potential life comes to an end.
2. Eve-teasing on mobile: Eve-teasing on mobile phone has become the most popular form. A stalker, getting a mobile phone, starts teasing a girl in many ways. At first, he sends SMS in ornamental and rhetorical language to which a young girls easily falls victim as she is also an adolescent. Becoming a victim to this, a young girl develops a relation, on which that particular boy capitalises. Some intimate moments are captured by hidden camera or video recorder and these are later on circulated through the internet. That is a reason why mobile phone sometimes becomes a curse despite its multiple benefits.
3. Sexual harassment by internet: Of late the young boys and girls in the cities are used to chatting through internet by which they come closer to each other. Being adolescent, the boys and girls fall victim to their sensuality wExtreme world: Is Sweden
as clean as it seems?hich is hard to resist at least at the tender age.
Remedies
With the sudden influx of eve-teasing incidents, the government has taken a hard line regarding the matter. Many think that eve-teasing is hard to contain with the enforcement of law only. Some more comprehensive measures are to be taken. The government, the civil society and all stakeholders should work together hand in hand. Some remedies are recommended and they are as follows:
1. Enforcement of law: Although the government has amended the section of 508 of the CrPC and has set up some special mobile courts to address the problem, the functioning of these courts needs be increased to such an extent that they can cover the whole country.
2: Sports and games: These days the young boys and girls rush to cyber cafes rather than going to the playground. With a few playgrounds in the country, the young girls and boys have little scope to engage themselves in sports and outdoor games. The juveniles love to loiter in the girls' schools and colleges. So, the government has to address the problem with top priority by allocating necessary funds for playgrounds.
3. Restoration of old social values: The degradation of social values also contributes to it. So, we should focus on the religious rites and rituals which can prevent further destruction of the society. The imams of mosques, saints of temples, clergymen of churches, monks of pagodas can play a vital role in this regard as they lead and guide the people. The guardians are to look after their kids as well. They should be friendly to their kids so that the juvenile boys and girls can share their psychosomatic problems with their parents.
4. Employment generation: The jobless youths loiter in the streets and love teasing juvenile girls. So, if we can generate sufficient jobs for them, this problem can be better addressed.
5. Control on the satellite channels: The satellite channels have a serious effect on the society as they substitute our century-old culture with the western culture. So, there should be some sort of control on the satellite channels. It is to be noted here that the president of the USA Mr Obama does not allow his daughters to watch satellite channels.
6. Religious teaching in our education: Many critics think that religious teaching in our education may bring a good change in the society. We should impose religious teaching in education system right from primary school to university.
(The writer is the founder chairman of Eastern University and former vice-president of FBCCI)