Govt urged to hold discussion at JS to stop menace

Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP) urged the government to hold a discussion over the increasing incidents of violence against women and children at the parliamentary session that began yesterday.

"We want to hear from the highest echelon of the country that no sort of violence against women and children will be tolerated in the country," said BMP President Ayesha Khanam adding that such discussion would send a strong message to all the quarters of administration to take the issue seriously.

At a press conference, organised yesterday at the capital's Jatiya Press Club, senior lawyer of BMP Dipti Rani Sikder read out a concept note which showed that from January to July, 2,447 incidents of violence against women and children occurred throughout the country as reported by 14 national dailies. 

Starting with 284 such incidents, including rape, gang rape and murders after rape, in January, the increasing trend continued with 338, 345,349,405,358 and 368 in July.

Dipti also quoted Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum statistics on murder of children which stood at 141 in the last seven months.  Last year, 350 children were killed, 218 children in 2013 while 209 in 2012.

"We also want to request the government to create a separate ministry for children," said Khanom noting that children are not only being raped, murdered and tortured in the most cruel manner but a lot of children are being trafficked both alone and with their parents.

Khanom referred to the case of Fouzia Rahman Chanpa who was beaten to death with a rod by her brother-in-law Jahirul Alam Kamal on October 18, 1989 in Barisal.

Though Jahirul got life imprisonment, he remained absconding for 22 years and then surrendered in 2011.

"We heard that an application was sent from the law ministry to the prime minister's office requesting that the rest of his sentence is commuted which ends in 2037," she said referring to a report published in

the daily Prothom Alo on August 29. When there are already so much crimes occurring in the country, this kind of process raises question about the government's willingness to curb violence against women, she said.