Support centres for reducing violence against women

Sumi (not her real name), an eight-year-old girl, was violated by her home tutor Kawser in Sylhet. Kawser, 23, an imam of a local mosque, violated Sumi when the girl went to his room to serve breakfast. Sumi’s mother had sent the food for Kawser. Sumi disclosed the matter to her mother. Later, Kawser was arrested by Zakiganj police in Sylhet, reports BSS.
Sumi was admitted to the One-Stop Crisis Centre (OCC) of Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital. “I want the evil person who did this to me, hanged,” said the girl.
Eight OCCs have been set up in hospitals of seven divisional towns and at Faridpur under ‘Multi-sectoral Programme on Violence Against Women’ projects which offer health services to woman and child victims along with legal aid, police assistance, DNA examination, psychological counseling, shelter and assistance for rehabilitation in society.
Women, who face depression or have suicidal tendency, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post traumatic stress disorder can receive psychological counseling support from National Trauma Counseling Centre.
The activities of OCC cells started from December 2012. The OSC cell coordinates the activities of the relevant ministries and divisions to combat violence against women and children, disseminates the judgments and directives of the higher courts to prevent physical and sexual violence and mental torture, participates in advocacy programmes to prevent early marriage and dowry, cordially attend the victims and listen to their problems and take necessary steps to provide services to victims without delay.
OSC cell deals with violence like physical assault, sexual assault, burn, acid burn, and mental abuse of women and children.
Most of the victims face physical assaults resulting from family dispute, previous enmity, land dispute and dowry, said Abul Hossain, project director of OCC.
A recent BRAC study has found that at least 7,489 women and girls became victims of violence in 2016. The study also revealed that 20 percent of the victims of violence against women are children, and that each day, on an average, 1.7 children were victims of rape last year.
The actual number of victims would be more than twice the number of women and children seeking institutional help, said Salma Ali, executive director of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association.
“Fear of being ostracised in society, being victimised again and losing status and sometimes monetary compensations are the reasons why so many incidents of rape and other forms of violence remain unreported,” Salma said. Echoing Salma Ali, human rights activist Sultana Kamal said lengthy legal process was one of the reasons why fear of justice does not deter the perpetrators.
In some cases, parents, who had sought legal assistance against the abusers, later withdrew their complaints in the fear that their children might be subjected to social harassment in the future.
However, only some cases have reached the verdicts.

 

Support centres for reducing violence against women

Sumi (not her real name), an eight-year-old girl, was violated by her home tutor Kawser in Sylhet. Kawser, 23, an imam of a local mosque, violated Sumi when the girl went to his room to serve breakfast. Sumis mother had sent the food for Kawser. Sumi disclosed the matter to her mother. Later, Kawser was arrested by Zakiganj police in Sylhet, reports BSS. Sumi was admitted to the One-Stop Crisis Centre (OCC) of Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital. I want the evil person who did this to me, hanged, said the girl. Eight OCCs have been set up in hospitals of seven divisional towns and at Faridpur under Multi-sectoral Programme on Violence Against Women projects which offer health services to woman and child victims along with legal aid, police assistance, DNA examination, psychological counseling, shelter and assistance for rehabilitation in society. Women, who face depression or have suicidal tendency, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post traumatic stress disorder can receive psychological counseling support from National Trauma Counseling Centre. The activities of OCC cells started from December 2012. The OSC cell coordinates the activities of the relevant ministries and divisions to combat violence against women and children, disseminates the judgments and directives of the higher courts to prevent physical and sexual violence and mental torture, participates in advocacy programmes to prevent early marriage and dowry, cordially attend the victims and listen to their problems and take necessary steps to provide services to victims without delay. OSC cell deals with violence like physical assault, sexual assault, burn, acid burn, and mental abuse of women and children. Most of the victims face physical assaults resulting from family dispute, previous enmity, land dispute and dowry, said Abul Hossain, project director of OCC. A recent BRAC study has found that at least 7,489 women and girls became victims of violence in 2016. The study also revealed that 20 percent of the victims of violence against women are children, and that each day, on an average, 1.7 children were victims of rape last year. The actual number of victims would be more than twice the number of women and children seeking institutional help, said Salma Ali, executive director of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association. Fear of being ostracised in society, being victimised again and losing status and sometimes monetary compensations are the reasons why so many incidents of rape and other forms of violence remain unreported, Salma said. Echoing Salma Ali, human rights activist Sultana Kamal said lengthy legal process was one of the reasons why fear of justice does not deter the perpetrators. In some cases, parents, who had sought legal assistance against the abusers, later withdrew their complaints in the fear that their children might be subjected to social harassment in the future. However, only some cases have reached the verdicts.