To Tolerate or Not

Sexual harassment and the law

An overwhelming majority of women who step outside their homes everyday in pursuit of education and livelihood, every now and then encounter some level of sexual harassment across the world.

 According to the latest report by Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), in Bangladesh 109 sexual harassment incidents were reported in daily newspapers from January to September this year. Among the victims, six girls committed suicide, while five were murdered by their stalkers. In the wake of such tragic deaths, let us define ‘eve teasing’, a very commonly used euphemism in South Asia for public harassment, sexually aggressive behaviour or molestation of women and girls by men. 
‘Eve teasing’ refers to the temptress nature of the Biblical Eve, the supposed first woman, who provokes men into states of sexual titillation, placing responsibility on the woman as a tease, as though the aggressive response of the males is normal rather than criminal.
It is a crime easy to commit, but difficult to prove as the men ‘teasers’ often devise ingenious ways to attack women. A lewd stare, a sly whistle, a well-timed clap, an unwarranted bump, a seemingly casual touch, a lingering look at a vulnerable time, humming suggestive songs, passing downright uncouth comments, cheap gestures, display of indecent snaps or videos, making ‘unwelcoming calls’ or ‘missed calls’, sending indecent texts _  all these are typical examples of ‘eve teasing’.
However, the term ‘eve teasing’ downplays the seriousness of such crimes by attaching a mere ‘misbehaviour’ label to it.  In recent times, the Bangladesh High Court has rightly ruled that incidents of harassment should not be referred to as ‘eve teasing’ anymore, but should be termed as ‘sexual harassment’. 
Sexual harassment is in its own accord  gender discrimination and human rights violation of women. In Bangladesh, women are still in a peripheral position in the society, which is governed by patriarchal attitudes. Gender discrimination leading to gender violence is deeply embedded in our social structure. Most Bangladeshi social institutions permit, even encourage, the demonstration of unequal power relations between the sexes. In other words, harassment of women in Bangladesh is culturally accepted, tolerated and in certain prescribed forms and given contexts,  legitimised.
However, the journey to ensure women empowerment in Bangladesh began at our independence in 1971 by ensuring equal rights for both men and women in all spheres of state and public life in the Constitution. 
Bangladesh has also enacted a number of laws that aims to remove the immoral crime of sexual harassment from our society. Among them, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ordinance of 1976 first addressed public sexual harassment  directly under the name of  ‘eve teasing’. The law provides imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or a fine up to Tk 2,000, or both. Likewise, the other five metropolitan police departments have made similar provisions to penalise the offence of harassing women. But these ordinances have no jurisdiction outside their respective metropolitan areas which makes the offence exclusively a local and urban one. 
Special laws punishing sexual harassment having nationwide jurisdiction are yet to be passed.
In 2000, the government enacted a tougher law to protect women and children from various offences. The Prevention of Repression against Women and Children Act, 2000 came down heavily on the oppressors of women. Under section 10 of the Act, a person is punishable with rigorous imprisonment of 3 – 10 years and fine of an indefinite amount for committing sexual torture.
In section 10(2), the law defined sexual harassment as: “if a man, with a view to fulfilling his sexual desire outrages a woman’s modesty or makes erotic gestures, such act of the man will amount to sexual harassment”. According to this definition, sexual harassment is an offence  committed without actual physical contact with the victim. The law stipulated rigorous imprisonment ranging from 2 to 7 years and an indefinite amount of fine for the offence. 
However, section 10(2) was abrogated when the law was last amended in 2003. A new provision was added under Section 9 (ka) of the Act providing punishment of 5-10 years’ jail and an indefinite amount of fine for a person who forces a woman to commit suicide as a consequence of dishonor or sexual harassment or assault.
Thus, after the amendment of the Prevention of Repression against Women and Children Act, 2000 in 2003, there remains no legal provisions in the country for addressing directly the problem of sexual harassment. But newspapers keep bringing out reports on sexual harassment every now and then. In this crucial situation, Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA) filed a writ petition with the High Court Division. The court, after examining the pros and cons of the problem, issued a judgment giving the government an 11-point directive, aimed at filling up the legislative vacuum in the nature of law. 
In its directive, the court suggested a detailed definition of sexual harassment, which includes all other existing definitions of non-contact sexually connoting offences. It also incorporated the modern means of erotic insults against women that are prevalent in our present age of information technology.
The emergence and wide use of digital tools have opened up a new dimension of sexual harassment in cyber world. Nowadays, women are frequently harassed over the internet or through mobile phones. Regrettably, there is no comprehensive law adequately dealing with sexual harassment in social media and other digital platforms, albeit cases can be filed under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, 2000, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Act, 2006, and the Pornography Control Act, 2012.
The government has already started the process of fulfilling the directives of the High Court judgment. Under the Mobile Court Act, 2009, executive magistrates have been empowered to take legal action, in the form of imposing punishment of one year in jail or a fine of Tk 5,000, or both, on the spot against anyone who is found guilty of stalking and harassing a woman or girl. 
Besides, a national helpline was launched in 2012 to provide immediate service to victims of sexual harassment and violence and link up to relevant agencies. The helpline number is 10921. In addition, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has a complaint mechanism on its web site,  btrc.gov.bd. Also, anyone can seek help by dialling 2872 (BTRC) during office hours, or by email to [email protected], or through post to IEB Bhaban, Ramna, Dhaka-1000.
Being unaware about their rights and legal provisions against violence, Bangladeshi women are facing different kinds of violence in public and private spheres of their life. Despite existing laws, given the traditional backdrop in Bangladesh where the purity of a women is deemed of utmost importance, victims of public harassment and stalking tend to suffer in silence, rather than protest against the despicable offence. This leads us to assume that a proper deconstruction of harassment is likely to help restructuring our social views regarding the offence.  

The writer is a barrister-at-law. She  practises at Dhaka Judges’ Court and is a senior lecturer, Faculty of Law, Northern University Bangladesh. 

To Tolerate or Not

Sexual harassment and the law

An overwhelming majority of women who step outside their homes everyday in pursuit of education and livelihood, every now and then encounter some level of sexual harassment across the world. According to the latest report by Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), in Bangladesh 109 sexual harassment incidents were reported in daily newspapers from January to September this year. Among the victims, six girls committed suicide, while five were murdered by their stalkers. In the wake of such tragic deaths, let us define eve teasing, a very commonly used euphemism in South Asia for public harassment, sexually aggressive behaviour or molestation of women and girls by men. Eve teasing refers to the temptress nature of the Biblical Eve, the supposed first woman, who provokes men into states of sexual titillation, placing responsibility on the woman as a tease, as though the aggressive response of the males is normal rather than criminal. It is a crime easy to commit, but difficult to prove as the men teasers often devise ingenious ways to attack women. A lewd stare, a sly whistle, a well-timed clap, an unwarranted bump, a seemingly casual touch, a lingering look at a vulnerable time, humming suggestive songs, passing downright uncouth comments, cheap gestures, display of indecent snaps or videos, making unwelcoming calls or missed calls, sending indecent texts _ all these are typical examples of eve teasing. However, the term eve teasing downplays the seriousness of such crimes by attaching a mere misbehaviour label to it. In recent times, the Bangladesh High Court has rightly ruled that incidents of harassment should not be referred to as eve teasing anymore, but should be termed as sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is in its own accord gender discrimination and human rights violation of women. In Bangladesh, women are still in a peripheral position in the society, which is governed by patriarchal attitudes. Gender discrimination leading to gender violence is deeply embedded in our social structure. Most Bangladeshi social institutions permit, even encourage, the demonstration of unequal power relations between the sexes. In other words, harassment of women in Bangladesh is culturally accepted, tolerated and in certain prescribed forms and given contexts, legitimised. However, the journey to ensure women empowerment in Bangladesh began at our independence in 1971 by ensuring equal rights for both men and women in all spheres of state and public life in the Constitution. Bangladesh has also enacted a number of laws that aims to remove the immoral crime of sexual harassment from our society. Among them, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ordinance of 1976 first addressed public sexual harassment directly under the name of eve teasing. The law provides imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or a fine up to Tk 2,000, or both. Likewise, the other five metropolitan police departments have made similar provisions to penalise the offence of harassing women. But these ordinances have no jurisdiction outside their respective metropolitan areas which makes the offence exclusively a local and urban one. Special laws punishing sexual harassment having nationwide jurisdiction are yet to be passed. In 2000, the government enacted a tougher law to protect women and children from various offences. The Prevention of Repression against Women and Children Act, 2000 came down heavily on the oppressors of women. Under section 10 of the Act, a person is punishable with rigorous imprisonment of 3 10 years and fine of an indefinite amount for committing sexual torture. In section 10(2), the law defined sexual harassment as: if a man, with a view to fulfilling his sexual desire outrages a womans modesty or makes erotic gestures, such act of the man will amount to sexual harassment. According to this definition, sexual harassment is an offence committed without actual physical contact with the victim. The law stipulated rigorous imprisonment ranging from 2 to 7 years and an indefinite amount of fine for the offence. However, section 10(2) was abrogated when the law was last amended in 2003. A new provision was added under Section 9 (ka) of the Act providing punishment of 5-10 years jail and an indefinite amount of fine for a person who forces a woman to commit suicide as a consequence of dishonor or sexual harassment or assault. Thus, after the amendment of the Prevention of Repression against Women and Children Act, 2000 in 2003, there remains no legal provisions in the country for addressing directly the problem of sexual harassment. But newspapers keep bringing out reports on sexual harassment every now and then. In this crucial situation, Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA) filed a writ petition with the High Court Division. The court, after examining the pros and cons of the problem, issued a judgment giving the government an 11-point directive, aimed at filling up the legislative vacuum in the nature of law. In its directive, the court suggested a detailed definition of sexual harassment, which includes all other existing definitions of non-contact sexually connoting offences. It also incorporated the modern means of erotic insults against women that are prevalent in our present age of information technology. The emergence and wide use of digital tools have opened up a new dimension of sexual harassment in cyber world. Nowadays, women are frequently harassed over the internet or through mobile phones. Regrettably, there is no comprehensive law adequately dealing with sexual harassment in social media and other digital platforms, albeit cases can be filed under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, 2000, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Act, 2006, and the Pornography Control Act, 2012. The government has already started the process of fulfilling the directives of the High Court judgment. Under the Mobile Court Act, 2009, executive magistrates have been empowered to take legal action, in the form of imposing punishment of one year in jail or a fine of Tk 5,000, or both, on the spot against anyone who is found guilty of stalking and harassing a woman or girl. Besides, a national helpline was launched in 2012 to provide immediate service to victims of sexual harassment and violence and link up to relevant agencies. The helpline number is 10921. In addition, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has a complaint mechanism on its web site, btrc.gov.bd. Also, anyone can seek help by dialling 2872 (BTRC) during office hours, or by email to [email protected], or through post to IEB Bhaban, Ramna, Dhaka-1000. Being unaware about their rights and legal provisions against violence, Bangladeshi women are facing different kinds of violence in public and private spheres of their life. Despite existing laws, given the traditional backdrop in Bangladesh where the purity of a women is deemed of utmost importance, victims of public harassment and stalking tend to suffer in silence, rather than protest against the despicable offence. This leads us to assume that a proper deconstruction of harassment is likely to help restructuring our social views regarding the offence. The writer is a barrister-at-law. She practises at Dhaka Judges Court and is a senior lecturer, Faculty of Law, Northern University Bangladesh.