By Tasmiah Rahman / 20 April 2016 / Open Democracy
Tonu was an ordinary 19 year old girl, who got
unlucky. According to the initial posts on Facebook, her body was found near Comilla cantonment,
outside Comilla city in eastern Bangladesh, on 20 March and there was
evidence she had been raped before she was murdered. When she did not return
home after tutoring a student, her father started looking for her. Little did
he know that he would have to find his daughter lying lifeless near a culvert.
Her head had been crushed, her hair pulled out and she had sustained injuries
all over her body.
The news of the murder took social media by storm. The
day after she was found, the hashtag#JusticeforTonu began
to circulate in protest. Newspapers also began to publish numerous articles on
rape and how such crimes are on the rise due to lack of timely punishment.
Looking at the rape statistics, there has been a marked increase in recent
years. According to police headquarters data, in 2014, some 4,642 rape cases
were filed, up from 4,538 in 2013. The One Stop Crisis Centre of Dhaka Medical College
reports that four to five women are reported to be raped every day, while the
Women and Child Repression division of the police has recorded 21,220 cases of
abuse in 2015. According to Ain o Shalish Kendro, a prominent national legal aid
and human rights organisation, in January-February 2016, there were 105 rape
incidents reported. In three cases the victim had died and two had committed
suicide after the rape. These are only a glimpse of rapes and abuses as many go
unreported given the social stigma around such incidents.
Rape news is thus common in Bangladesh. But why Tonu’s
murder in particular resulted in such strong social media outcry followed by a
nationwide protest, needs further probing. Below are a few issues that I
believe are essential to look at while investigating the murder and its
relation to the public protests:
1. Enough is enough: Tonu’s friends on social
media started posting the news of her death and asked others to share it. Many
have expressed how they knew her and how much she was loved. For the first
couple of days, the murder was not reported by prominent media houses, but her
friends vocally criticised their silence and demanded that her story be heard.
They also put pressure on the police to put proper effort in investigating her
murder.
The protests on social media soon turned into protests
on the streets. Even though the demonstrations began in Comilla, they quickly
spread in other districts like Dhaka and Chittagong. A Facebook page was set up
titled, ‘We are Tonu’ encouraging university students in Dhaka
and nationwide to support the protests, and Dhaka University students called for
a temporary closure of educational institutions on April 3. Gonojagoron Mancha, a platform for mass protests
established after the sensational war crimes tribunal in Bangladesh, also
endorsed the growing movement. They helped to mobilise 30,000-40,000 students
to block one of the main intersections in the capital, and announced a
month-long programme demanding maximum punishment for the criminals. The
slogans spoke out against oppression and justice being denied to victims and
their families.
2. No trust in the investigation: Tonu’s
body underwent two autopsies. After the first autopsy, the police reported that
Tonu was raped and murdered. Nine days after the murder when the police had
failed to make headway on the killer/s, the case was handed over to the
Criminal Investigation Department on the basis that they are better equipped to
carry out ‘sensitive’ investigations. As the first report failed to explain the
cause of death, Tonu’s body was exhumed for the second autopsy. This time,
there were allegedly no signs of rape found but the exact details were unclear
as the report was not made public. The chaotic investigation therefore stirred
further frustration amongst the public.
3. Class struggle: Tonu’s father was a
fourth class worker in the cantonment board. Even though they lived in a
protected area like the cantonment, many speculated that had he been someone
influential, his daughter’s case would have attracted more attention from the
law enforcement agencies. Tonu had been travelling home from tutoring students,
a job she did to boost her family’s income. Many other middle class students
take on tutoring to earn money for tuition or pocket money so she was someone
public university students could relate to.
The rights organisation Ain o Shalish Kendro added its voice to the protest
when stories of ‘harassment’ and interrogation of family members
surfaced. Reports suggested law enforcement agencies were
pressurising Tonu’s parents to agree to their own prescribed statements.
Campaigners and protestors alike objected to the apparently tangible example of
the ill treatment of the poor and middle class that is practiced in every
sphere of the society.
4. Law makers are the breakers: there
has been speculation that the perpetrators were law enforcers themselves, given
that her body was found in a high security military cantonment. Even though
there are laws are in place, loopholes in the legal system and the lack of
effective implementation mean people with power can invariably go without being
punished or even identified. Stories of rapists threatening family members and
witnesses are not uncommon. Even when ordinary citizens know who is responsible
for crimes like abuse, rape and murder, many family members and witnesses are
silenced as a result of intimidation by law enforcers, political goons and by
influence of money and political power.
5. Modesty does not keep you safe: the
young demonstrators are challenging the age old mainstream belief of victim
blaming by both the society and the law enforcement agencies. Tonu wore a hijab
and practiced Islam, underlining that attire can never protect a women from
being targeted and sparking debates on the issue of ensuring the safety of all
women, not just women that cover themselves.
***
The younger generation is demanding justice not just
for Tonu but for all victims of rape and murder that go unpunished. The social
media and media messages are calling for exemplary justice, so that other girls
like Tonu do not have to live in fear. Yet exactly a month after the murder the
criminals remain at large, and the police do not even seem close to capturing
the culprits, just as so many of the protesters anticipated.
Having said that, this discussion highlights the ‘We
are Tonu’ movement is also based on wider grievances which demonstrate the
youth in Bangladesh are tired and frustrated with the current institutions and
power structures. Issues like those outlined above need to be discussed more
widely and addressed at national level so that effective preventive measures
can be taken.
This article was originally published on the LSE blog.
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