Doesn't the AL think that, in case of a democratic change of power, the same technique will be used against the AL men?

"There were quite a few cadres (armed goons) and hoodlums in Savar. Now the situation is still as water. No one dares to utter a word. I have put five persons to cross fire and have prepared the list of another 14."

By all accounts, healthcare is a policy priority for Bangladesh but compared to other sectors, resource allocation in this sector is quite insufficient.

According to several past reports published by Human Rights Watch, Privacy International, and Swedish Media, there has been a rise...

At 26 years of age, Bimala, from a remote village in Western Nepal, gives birth to her sixth child and falls unconscious when she learns that the child is, yet again, a girl.

It's been a month since heavy torrential downpours caused a landslide and mudflow in the hill districts of Rangamati, Chittagong and

"The freedom of a nation cannot be upheld by laws alone, but also by the light of the nation and knowledge of their use." These words by Anders Chydenius, a Swedish enlightenment thinker and politician of the eighteenth century, had set the ball rolling for the adoption of world's first freedom of information law in Sweden and Finland in 1766. Since then around 115 countries/territories have enacted similar transparency laws.

Once again Bangladesh has come under the spotlight in international media, unfortunately not in a positive way.

So much has been said and written about sexual harassment of late. Much of it attributed to sexual harassment on campuses of colleges and universities, particularly in North America, and left the voice of the abused in silence. In all these writings, less has been said about the hyper-sexualised society where we often overlook the importance of consent when it comes to sexual behaviour. Thoughts get tangled in trying to analyse on whom does the blame of such abuses lie.

The photo of a battered young maid with black eyes swollen to the extreme shook the conscience of those who saw it circulating on social media the past week (“Tortured domestic help moved to Dhaka CMH”, The Daily Star, July 4, 2017). The child was identified as 11-year-old Sabina Akhter from Tangail district, who was working as a maid in an army officer's house for the last six months in the capital's Mirpur DOHS area.

These are questions which should have been answered. Shaon's death and his parents' allegations point towards torture in custody of someone who seems to have been as much a victim of the attack as the others. After a year, it should have been resolved and communicated if Chowkidar's death was an accident or part of the raid to kill the militants.

It is sickening how rape is becoming a regular occurrence in our society and there is a report of an incident of sexual violence every day from various parts of the country, each more vicious and more heinous than the one before. The victim profile is so diverse indicating that no girl, no woman is safe. When I started writing this article, the number of rape cases reported in 2017 was 93. By the time this article was ready for publication, that figure had risen to 138. This was within a matter of 4 weeks. I cannot help asking myself, what is happening? Why the rise in sexual violence? Why have the men in our country become so cruel?

“You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.” These were the words of Mahatma Gandhi who was jailed 13 times for his non-violent and peaceful resistance against British colonial rule in India. Torture was also a common practice at the Robben Island prison camp where the former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela spent 18 years of his life. One would assume that this shameful practice would belong to the past.

Jharna (not her real name), a 14-year-old girl living in Rayerbazar slum in Dhaka, fears that all her dreams may be dashed because of early marriage as she is from a community that expects girls to be married off and bear children even before they reach adulthood. Jharna, who is a child, doesn't want that.

On June 12, Bangladesh, along with other countries, observed World Day Against Child Labour, with elaborate programmes.

In 1988, being extremely poor and thanks to the poor state of the health sector in the country, my mother died due to maternal health related complication.

Sometimes I wonder how the future generations will view our time. For example, what will be their reaction when they come to know of the child labour situation in our society?

On May 5, 2017, an employer poured boiling water over an eight-year-old domestic help – a child – for breaking a glass by mistake.

Cyber security and the threat by hackers have been in the news headlines in the recent past. Two of the most recent incidents are well known: the Bangladesh Bank cyber theft in February 2016 and the recent WannaCry attacks for ransom in May 2017.

If the recent Banani rape case has brought anything to light, it is that a sizable portion of our population suffers from a severe victim-