Nilima Jahan

Whenever there is an incident of rape, most people tend to say that it was the girl or woman’s fault, and question her character, social class, outfit, sexual experience, and lifestyle.

Most days of the week, Jagannath University student Ayesha Nijhum is seen sitting in an open field near her house in Gazipur’s Kapasia. The second-year student of management attends online classes on her cellphone for about two hours and prefers the field over her house due to the better signal reception in the open area.

It was not the family reunion that she had hoped for.

“Do you want to earn Tk 20,000 per month working from home for only two hours a day?”

Until Sunday night, the sidewalks in front of the Jatiya Press Club were teeming with protesters pressing their demands for various causes, but since yesterday morning the area has been deserted.

The news on rape of a 14-year-old intellectually impaired girl at a disaster shelter, in Pachgachhi union of Kurigram Sadar upazila in 2018, did not make it to the headlines of major newspapers or outlets, but it offers a glimpse of the vulnerabilities women and girls face during natural disasters.

Mohammad Alif’s life has utterly changed.

“Apa, are you sure you will not write my name in your report? If anyone could understand that I am [HIV] positive, I will not find clients anymore and will die of hunger,” said 38-Year-old Ruma (not her real name), an HIV positive sex-worker while speaking to this newspaper yesterday.

While the government has taken steps to ensure victims of gender-based violence such as rape can go to local-level bodies for remedy, these initiatives largely fall flat because of little action and follow-up.

Since the Tazreen Fashions factory fire on November 24, 2012, former senior sewing machine operator Shilpi Akter has left no stone unturned to support herself and her family of five, even though she had lost her ability for labour-intensive work.

Human rights activists and feminists expressed grave concern over the words of independent MP of Bogura-7 Md Rezaul Karim Bablu, who said in parliament on Tuesday that feminists are to blame for the rape incidents across the country.

If the public and legal channels through which a survivor can report rape are not gender-sensitive, the consequences can be disastrous.

Mayadebi Tanchangya, of Bilaichhari upazila, toils away every morning till night to make ends meet for her seven-member family.

No conversation about rape is complete without recognising this: marital rape, and underage marriage “under special circumstances” are both legal in this country.

When the law minister on Thursday announced that the law would be reformed to provide for death penalty for rape, activists, researchers and lawyers pointed out that far more crucial changes need to be made with immediate effect.

When 32-year-old Shabib Rahman (not his real name) got married in 2015, it came as a relief for him. From cleaning his room to arranging daily meals, everyday things he had to do for his six years of living alone in Dhaka he was now relieved of.

The time of the year that Priyanka Biswas usually waits with the bated breath - crab harvesting season - turned her down this year instead, pushing her towards the brink of nervous breakdown.

Thirty-two-year-old SM Sharmin, a marketing executive at a private organisation, was cooking while also speaking to one of her clients over the phone, and helping her eight-year-old daughter with her online classes.

Those with disabilities in the country have long faced societal barriers, negative perceptions, and discrimination, and 53-year-old Md Saidul Huq was no exception.

When the country’s hospitals were struggling to ensure uninterrupted oxygen supply to critical coronavirus patients, a group of 14 Buet alumni came to their aid three months ago by installing central oxygen systems for treating Covid-19 patients.