Steps need to
be taken so that policemen feel obligated to record rape incidents and take
sincere and swift actions against the same
Growing number of rape cases
Rapes used to be a shameful legacy of Bangladeshs liberation war. But very shockingly, in independent Bangladesh today, the number of rape incidents are rising to worrying levels. According to a report in a leading vernacular daily that quoted human rights organizations, 771 females were raped in Bangladesh in 2012. The latest such media report says that 939 females were raped in 2014 ; 174 were gang raped and 99 were killed after rape. Of course the number excludes the ones who did not lodge cases in police stations or report the same to the media fearing reprisal from the often powerful perpetrators of these rapes. Nonetheless, the above figure on rapes is a clear indication of the rising number of rape cases. For the number of reported rape cases were 405 in 2006.
Rape victims in most cases do not get justice. In some cases, policemen themselves are seen taking the lead in raping women. The rape victims who do get their complaints registered in police stations are hazarded by lack of good follow-ups at hospitals to establish that they were really raped. Hospitals lack proper or decent facilities in carrying out examinations of raped women.
The ways of law enforcement in rape cases are poor. Therefore, steps need to be taken so that policemen feel obligated to record rape incidents and take sincere and swift actions against them. A monitoring system should be there for senior police officers to know whether the investigating officers in rape cases are doing their work at the field levels. Any leniency must be dealt with promptly and sternly.
Specially, the police must be instructed to protected rape victims and their families so that they can come forward to unhesitatingly report the incidents or intimidating activities against them by the rapists and their supporters.
