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Thursday, March 8, 2018

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY Safety of women in public transports at stake


The use of public transports by women is becoming riskier and more unsafe amid increasing incidents of rape and sexual harassments and even murder while on board.

Some gangs are active on different highways to conduct these crimes and what is more alarming is that these crimes are taking place not only at night but also in broad daylight on busy roads and in so-called secure places. 

Culture of impunity, patriarchal attitudes and lack of speedy trial and awareness are the main reasons behind the situation, educationists and rights activists say. 

Incidents like gang-rape and murder of law student Zakia Sultana Rupa in Tangail, another gang-rape of an ethnic minority woman in a microbus in Dhaka and molestation of a Bangladeshi female passenger on the Maitree Express on Dhaka-Kolkata route by an Indian Border Security Force soldier shocked the entire country.

BRAC Road Safety Programme director Ahmed Najmul Hussain told New Age that between Gazipur intersection and Bangabandhu Bridge there were some active gangs who got on buses as passengers to violate women.

Najmul was also former Inspector General of Police and former chairman of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority. 

Deputy inspector general Md Atiqul Islam of highway police told New Age on Monday that they were working on 12 such incidents and in five of them they had detected the perpetrators.
So far they had arrested six such gangs on Dhaka-Tangail highway, he said.

People were stunned after Rupa was brutally killed after gang rape in a moving bus at Madhupur in Tangail by transport workers who also dumped her body on roadside on August 25, 2017.

On February 12, a court in Tangail sentenced the bus driver and his three assistants to death and the bus supervisor to seven years’ jail for killing Rupa.

On January 23 this year, a female Dhaka University student jumped off a running bus in Uttar Badda at 10:00am to escape sexual assault attempt. Later police detained two transport workers. 

Just a day ago on January 22, a Bangladeshi female passenger was molested on Maitree Express on Dhaka-Kolkata route by an Indian Border Security Force soldier.

Maliha Salehin, a banker who travels daily on Mugdapara-Banani route, said that after office time she avoids buses without passengers. 

‘Now-a-days we hear of incidents of sexual assaults and crime against female passengers,’ she said, adding, ‘That is why I am afraid of riding empty buses.’ 

A female lecturer of Udayan Higher Secondary School said on different occasions female students shared with her how they faced sexual harassment in public transports. 

According to a report compiled and published by Passenger Welfare Association this February, at least 21 female passengers were victims of rape, sexual assault and harassment in transports across the country in the last 13 months. 

On Tuesday, BRAC launched a research report which says that about 94 per cent of the female passengers have experienced sexual harassment at some time or other in public transports in the country.

Following harassment, about 46 per cent of them were influenced to wear hijab, about 21 per cent reduced using of public transports and about 8 per cent quit jobs or outside work. 

An ActionAid Bangladesh study in 2016 revealed that 84 per cent of all woman commuters surveyed said they were subjected to sexual harassment while 62 per cent of the surveyed women limited their movement and had strict timings when they were moving about alone.

Dhaka University professor emeritus Najma Chowdhury said culture of impunity was the main reason behind the recurrent incidents of violence against women in transports. 

Only stern implementation of laws could ease these incidents, she said. 

Bangladesh Mahila Parishad president Ayesha Khanam alleged that though the country had achieved progress in economic indicators, it still lagged behind in social indicators due to continued violence against women.

‘Violence against women never was an agenda for policy makers; they rather say that this is not an issue at all,’ Ayesha regretted. 

Human rights lawyer Salma Ali said still most people in society observed women as a ‘commodity product’.

These incidents continued to take place due to culture of impunity, patriarchal attitude, misuse of technology and lack of accountability.

Salma, also former executive director of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association, said that recently life term was given to a bus driver and his helper for raping a female passenger in 2016 while the victim fought the case without informing the incident to her family. 

Change in mindset of law enforcers, speedy trial, awareness and family support for the victims could change the scenario, she suggested. 

Nijera Kori coordinator Khushi Kabir pointed out transport owners’ indifference to bringing responsible transport workers under law after any incidents for this situation. 

‘In this country implementation of laws and polices is rare,’ she observed and added that immediate action and complaint system in transports could play a strong role in easing violence against women. 

Road Transport and Highways Division secretary Md Nazrul Islam admitted that though they had taken initiatives to make people and transport workers aware about violence against women in transports, there should be more initiatives for it.

  • NewAge/ 08-3-18

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