Marital rape should be criminalised
Seminar told
Marital rape should be recognised as an offence under The Domestic Violence Act, 2010, said speakers at a seminar yesterday.
They were addressing the programme styled “Preventing Violence Against Women” organised by CARE Bangladesh at a hotel in the capital.
“Unfortunately, marital rape is not recognised as an offence in our culture. It is also a taboo to discuss the matter in public,” said Shireen Huq, a founding member of Naripokkho, an organisation working for women's rights.
Like other sexual offences, marital rape is traumatic for women but they hardly protest it as it is socially accepted that husbands have all rights over their wives, she said.
The perpetrators have not stopped committing violence and the victimised women do not feel socially motivated to overcome the trauma despite many awareness programmes, said Ayesha Khanam, president of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad.
State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, among others, spoke.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments