Stalking has led many impressionable schoolgirls to commit suicide, and these social crimes are going on unabatedly in spite of the government’s repeated declarations that they will not be tolerated. Such debasement of females has become one the most serious social problems although the government has launched several awareness programmes, and the police have been told to be vigilant and take relentless action against eve-teasers, said rights activists.
Many teachers and guardians have been killed or tortured for protesting by eve-teasers in various parts of the country, according to media reports.
According to a research report on eve-teasing and violence against women, released by the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association on May 25, about 91 per cent of the country’s women and girls were victims of harassment at some stage of life.
About 87 per cent of the country’s girls, between 10 to 18 years of age, have been victims of eve-teasing and harassment, said the report.
The eve-teasers range from school students and unemployed youths to street vendors, law enforcers, rickshaw pullers, bus drivers and fellow passengers, said witnesses.
On October 24 the chemistry teacher of Lokmanpur College in Natore district, Mizanur Rashid, who was attacked and injured by eve-teasers on October 12, died at the BSMMU hospital in Dhaka.
Relatives of Mizanur filed a murder case on October 16, accusing Mamunur Rashid Asif and Rajan as the culprits.
The Natore police arrested Asif but failed to apprehend Rajan, till the report was filed on October 25, due to political pressure, the officer-in-charge of Bagatipara thana, Abdus Salam, told New Age.
The stalkers often throw acid on girls after failing to persuade them to initiate intimate relationships, said rights activists.
On June 16 a gang of stalkers threw acid on Farhana Akhtar, 14, a student of Class VII at Saidul Abbas Mahila Dakhil Madrassah, after she rejected the amorous proposal of a stalker at Motipur village in Noakhali.
Married woman are also being victimised and their relations, after protesting or complaining to the police, are also being attacked.
In most of the cases it has been found that the police are reluctant to take any action against the eve-teasers or stalkers.
On October 4 a gang of stalkers stabbed an employee of a tailoring shop, Mohammad Raju, 26, to death for protesting against the stalking of his wife at Dattapara in Tongi upazila of Gazipur district.
The Awami League-led government, which assumed office on 6 January, 2009, in its election manifesto pledged that ‘…strictest legal measures will be taken to stop oppression of women’. But unfortunately the situation remains the same since action against eve-teasers is taken only on very rare occasions.
On June 15, a gang of stalkers chopped a student of Class X, Asma Khatun, 15, to death after she rejected the proposal of a stalker, Arman Nikari (Sharbat), 20, at Atarai village in Tala upazila of Satkhira district.
Some adolescent girls have been so traumatised and humiliated by harassment and stalking that they have committed suicide, said rights activists, but the law enforcers continue to be lenient to the culprits.
On September 7 a student of Pallimongal High School, Chameli Khatun, 14, daughter of Shafiqul Islam, poisoned herself after being harassed continually by Sumon, a student of Satkhira Government College.
The Ain O Salish Kendra on October 2 in its report said that at least 25 women committed suicide in the country in the first nine months in 2010 due to harassment, while 17 others, including a woman, were killed for protesting against eve-teasers and stalkers.
Even some law enforcers have been guilty of eve-teasing and stalking, said the victim’s family members.
On May 10 the Gopalganj police suspended Constable Qaiyum for stalking Sonia, second year student of the Bangabandhu University College.
On September 14 Shamsul Alam, 23, a soldier in the army’s engineering construction battalion at Chittagong cantonment, and his accomplices threw acid on 22-year-old medical technician, Rehana Akhtar, at Protap village in Gaibandha after she rejected his amorous advances.
According to the records of the police headquarters, from June 2009 to August 2010 only 156 cases and 390 General Diaries have been filed, though the number of the accused was 1,621 of whom 291 had absconded.
More than 70 per cent of the eve-teasing and stalking took place in the metropolitan areas, and most of the culprits were released after promising that they would never harass women again, said police sources.
On October 20 a gang beat up and poured boiling soup on Sharifuzzaman, a trainee teacher of the Primary Teachers’ Training Institute, for protesting against the harassment of his female colleague in Magura, said witnesses.
On May 22, a lecturer of Lalmonirhat Government College’s political science department, Hosne Latifa, was harassed by her students right in the college’s premises, and her colleague Zakir Hossain, assistant professor of physics department, was badly beaten up by them when he protested.
No effective measures are taken by the police or other law enforcers against eve-teasers in almost all the cases though there are legal provisions against them, said concerned lawyers.
Section 76 of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ordinance 1976 reads ‘Whoever wilfully and indecently exposes his person in any street or public place within sight of, and in such manner as may be seen by, any woman, whether from within any house or building or not, or wilfully presses or obstructs any woman in a street or public place or insults or annoys any woman by using indecent language or making indecent sounds, gestures, or remarks in any street or public place, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to two thousand takas, or with both.’
Such offences against women and the resultant punishments have also been described in Section 78 of the Chittagong Metropolitan Police Ordinance 1978, Section 79 of the Khulna Metropolitan Police Ordinance 1985, Section 79 of the Rajshahi Mahanagari Police Ain 2009, Section 79 of the Sylhet Mahanagari Police Ain 2009 and Section 79 of the Barisal Mahanagari Police Ain 2009.
Supreme Court lawyer Sara Hossain told New Age that the police are usually reluctant to take action against anyone who harasses or stalks women.
On August 8 an alleged stalker, Tariqul Islam of Naya Labanga village and his accomplices stabbed Shafiqul Islam, 50, and his wife Anwara Begum, 40, who are the parents of a teenage girl, at Sonapur village in Chapainawabganj, for complaining against them.
The inspector-general of police, Hasan Mahmud Khandakar, claimed on Monday that the incidence of eve-teasing and stalking has decreased. ‘But major incidents took place which show that the situation is alarming,’ he admitted.
It is impossible for the police to tackle the problem without the cooperation of all concerned agencies, he said.
