Domestic Abuse
27 women get new lease to life
A total 27 young women who had been subjected to domestic abuse and torture stepped to a new beginning yesterday, equipped with vocational training and logistic support.
A non-government organisation, Women's Rights Unit of Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS) Bangladesh, empowered these women through a project funded by Finn Church Aid, a Finnish NGO.
The closing ceremony of the project, “Stimulating Income Generation for Non-Violent Assertive Livelihood (SIGNAL)”, was held at a rehabilitation centre of RDRS Bangladesh in Guptapara of Rangpur yesterday.
RDRS Bangladesh Women's Rights Unit Assistant Coordinator Mesbahun Nahar, presenting a keynote paper at the ceremony, narrated the trauma the women had to go through and the rehabilitation process.
Mostly coming from poor families of rural areas, these women were married off between the ages of 13 to 17, she said.
Too young to know what conjugal life means, they usually had no say in their family lives. Most of them were not allowed to go to educational institutes and to socialise and their families planned their lives for them, she added.
Not meeting the in-laws' demand for dowry resulted in inhuman torture, abuse and harassment. Some of them were then divorced or driven away by their husbands, said Nahar.
Many of the victims could not even record cases with police. Even if they were able to file one, fear of attacks by their husbands caused them to spend most of their time under the safe custody of police, she added.
The trauma, the attacks on their dignity and physical pain from the torture caused some of them to suffer from severe mental disorders while others tried to commit suicide to relieve the agony burdening their lives, said Nahar.
This was when the project came forward a year ago, providing shelter to these women at the rehabilitation centre.
Here they were provided with the necessary healthcare facilities, legal assistance to divorce their husbands and education to enlighten them of their rights, she said.
They were also imparted with a yearlong vocational training on various trades to provide them the chance to get a new job and start a new life, she added.
RDRS Bangladesh Women's Rights Unit Chief Monjushree Saha, presiding over the ceremony, said, “Since 2009 we have rehabilitated 105 such women to make them self-reliant through income generating activities at home.”
Rangpur Range Deputy Inspector General of Police Binoy Krishna Bala, as the chief guest, said illiteracy, poverty and early marriage were the main reasons behind such inhuman torture.
He called upon all concerned to forge a social movement to root out such inhuman practices from society.
Afterwards he provided each woman with Tk 12,000-worth equipment, including sewing tools and cooking utensils.
SIGNAL Project Manager Jharna Begum delivered the welcome speech at the ceremony where Additional District Magistrate Zakir Hossain was also present.
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