Violence for dowry up in Satkhira

Incidents of violence against women increased in last few years, mainly due to attitude of men towards women in society, they said.

Only education, awareness about women's rights and punishment to perpetrators of violence against women can improve the situation, they said.

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True religious teaching can also change people's attitude towards women, which will reduce domestic violence, they said.

The workshop on 'Domestic Violence Against Women' was jointly organised on Friday by some local NGOs with assistance from South Asian Partnership (SAP), a regional network of NGOs.

A large number of local journalists took part in the workshop presided over by Tahmina Islam, an NGO executive. The discussants included Prof. Abu Ahmed (Daily Star), Ramkrishna Chakraborty (Samakal), Kamruzzaman ( Amar Desh), Principal Ashek E Elahi, Sadhana Rani Guha, Kazi Shahidul Haq Raju (Naya Diganta). Farjana Akhtar, Program Officer of ANCVAW presented the keynote paper.

At least 1164 women fell victims to domestic violence last year, up from 981 in 2003, said Farjayna Akhtar quoting from a report of Bangladesh National Women lawyer Association (BNWLA). A total 650 murders took place last year.

The number of dowry-related violence was 371 in 2004 and 355 in 2003. The number was only 77 in 1996, she said.