Editorial
Another victim of violence against women
The perpetrator should not escape justice
THE burn unit of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) bears witness to another act of barbarity on a woman by her husband. As reported on the back page of the Thursday issue of this paper, day labourer Swapan scalded her wife Shikha Khandaker with boiling water because she failed to bring the one lakh taka he had de-manded a second time as dowry, though he already re-ceived one lakh taka during their wedding 15 years back. Hapless Shikha, as the report goes, was no stranger to tortures like regular beating at her husband's hands, but she suffered all through silently. This last act of outrage might also have gone unnoticed had she not landed up in the burn unit of DMCH.
We have no word to condemn this outrage committed against Shikha Khondker. At the same time, we are aware, though, that mere condemnation is not the right re-sponse to stop these kinds of act of heartlessness and cruelty to which women remain a perennial victim. And as before, society at large is a silent spectator to such bar-barities against women. With Shikha, we have already had an unending march of women thus dehumanised and brutalised by husbands, in-laws, jilted lovers or road-side bullies.
In Shikhas's case, for example, it may have been her continued silence in the face of tortures as well as acqui-escence of her family in her husband's undue and ille-gitimate demands for dowry. Those have only gone to whet the husband's greed further and embolden him to inflict still worse kind of torture on her.
Why had Shikha to suffer like this at a time when there are specific laws to deal with dowry-related issues as well as repression against women and children? And it is not only with this particular case that the victim suffered without taking recourse to appropriate law. And as in most other cases, it has been lack of awareness, educa-tion, poverty and old family values that came in the way.
Granted it is the various limitations that constrain an individual female victim to seek legal shelter from such tyranny. But then what constrains us to punish the errant husband for his misdeed? Sadly though, in most cases of such male violence against women, society plays the role of a mere onlooker. Few cases, that are lucky enough to get media coverage or draw the attraction of civil rights or legal aid bodies, get any redress, if at all.
As a result of this general indifference of society, people like Swapan are getting away with their outrageous acts with impunity.
It is time we declared our zero tolerance against such monstrosity against women. The rights groups, NGOs, legal aid bodies and the media need to fight this social injustice as one and bring the offenders to justice.
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