What's Happening in Bangladesh

Disclaimer: The opinions stated in this post are based on the writer’s experience as a Bangladeshi.

What’s Happening in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has always been a country high up on the National Rape Incident tally list. In the 5 months of the COVID-19 pandemic alone, 632 women were raped in quarantine. That’s 4 women raped every day. However, what prompted Bangladesh to make international headlines in the last few weeks was the emergence of one particular video that went viral on Facebook. The footage showed a young Bengali woman being assaulted and gang-raped by a group of men who then posted the video onto Facebook in pursuit of blackmailing and shaming the victim.

This video went onto spark the flame of revolt in Bangladesh as hundreds of young people joined in protest against the failure of the government in combating sexual assault and rape. Soon after, the government met the protests with solutions - according to the Guardian, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam confirmed that the cabinet had approved a bill sentencing anyone convicted of rape to death or “rigorous imprisonment” for life. The eight men who assaulted the woman were also convicted.

The Problem Continues…

While it’s commendable on the government’s part imposing the death penalty on offenders, there are still many factors left to consider:

The Lack of Victim Compensation: The victims of rape, most often females, tend to get shamed in the conservative Bengali society. In the process, they may be denied jobs and rendered little prospects when it comes to marriage. These outcomes of victim-blaming feed into the prolonged emotional trauma sustained by victims even after the incident.

Victim Blaming: Phrases like “it was because of the way she was dressed” and “she was asking for it” often flood conversations around rape and sexual violence. This problem only proliferates when the socio-economic background of the offender is far above that of the victim. In instances like these, imposing a death penalty could cause significant repercussions on the victims as relatives and friends of the offender to blame the victim for the offender’s death.

Court Cases and the Failure of the Government: As pointed out by Amnesty International “the issue in Bangladesh was not the severity of punishment for rape, but a failure of the courts to bring convictions in rape cases and the victims’ fear of coming forward.” Of the 4,372 court cases filed between 2011 and 2018, ONLY 5 offenders were convicted. Thus, to truly address the problem the government needs to combat its shortcomings in addressing filed rape claims.

Killing of Victims: We’ve seen this in many countries where a death penalty is imposed on sex offenders - rapists kill their victims to prevent them from reporting the authorities. In this way, the death penalty could greatly reduce the number of rape cases reported by motivating fewer victims coming out alive.

What Can the Bangladeshi Government do?

• Provide compensation for rape victims

• Take actions to convict rapists

• Reduce the social stigma against rape victims through education

• Support victims of rape victims

Bangladesh’s fight against rape is far from over. What’s taken generations of ignorance to break is going to take generations of education to repair. The stigma against rape is going to exist for a while. So will the men and women who run unpunished. True, it is going to take time - but as long as we try, and try, and try some more, one day we’ll find ourselves even a millimeter closer to the goal than when we had started. And that millimeter could make the biggest difference.