Rapists lurking at every corner?
An 85-year-old man, two youths in their early 20s, a father-in-law and a neighbour. The only thing tying all of these people together is that they are all rapists.
For a good part of the day today, eight out of the top ten reports on The Daily Star's website were of either rape or sexual assault. These included the rapes of children, of a woman with five children, and also a special needs child.
The reports poured in from different corners of the country -- Sylhet, Gopalganj, Savar, Bogura, Jamalpur, and Rangamati. The perpetrators also were, as said above, not limited to a certain profile -- they were family members, men of religion, teachers, neighbours and just about anybody.
After yesterday's incident of a Noakhali woman being gang-raped and being filmed sparked outrage across the country, it seems like the floodgates to this prevailing crime has opened. Our correspondents rushed to areas from where news of rapes were emerging. The crime had once again come to the forefront of national discourse.
While shocking, the high number of rapes being reported was not an anomaly. These were, after all, only reported figures.
A total of 892 incidents of rape happened in Bangladesh in eight months since January, a report by the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA) said.
It further added that there were 192 incidents of rape attempts, 41 died due to injuries after rape, and nine died by suicide after being raped.
Pinpointing the problem, the report said criminals have gone unpunished due to dillydallying, adding that the number of such incidents will reduce if the trials are completed within short period.
Another troubling aspect that has emerged is the narrow definition of rape itself. It seems, what constitutes as rape determines the punishment meted out to perpetrators.
In case of the Noakhali gang rape, police booked the men involved in the rape under "attempt to rape" charges. The charge of rape carries a life sentence, whereas, "attempt to rape" commits perpetrators between 5 to 10 years.
The Noakhali incident thus reopened the debate around rape and what qualifies as such. The law that deals with rape defines it as sexual intercourse without lawful marriage, against the woman's will or by obtaining her consent fraudulently. This definition only accepts penile-vaginal, non-consensual intercourse as rape offence.
But legal experts differ in this regard. In the case of the Noakhali incident, Salma Ali, an eminent women's rights lawyer, said, "There is video evidence of what happened. It does not matter if the rape was executed using tools like hands or sticks, as long as the rape happened."
Another emerging problem is the rise in using video footage of rapes to blackmail victims of the crime. The Noakhali incident was one where the perpetrators could be heard proclaiming that they would release the video on Facebook, or even go Live, to silence the victim.
In Gopalganj, a ninth grader who was raped by two youths was also told that the video would be released on social media if she mentioned the incident to anyone.
Rape is also one of the few crimes where the victim is heavily stigmatised, allowing perpetrators to use their very crime to shush the victim. Unlike a mugging or a shooting, rapes come with a fear of victim blaming.
Not just the fear of social stigma, the trauma doled out to a victim, once cases are filed and the trial process is kicked off is to be blamed as well.
In case of the Noakhali victim, another issue was of influence. The local drug dealer is so notorious that even after listening to her cries, neighbours failed to come to her aide.
Even as this story is being wrapped up, we have received the day's umpteenth report of rape. This time it is a father-in-law who has been raping his daughter-in-law for the past two years and has finally been sent to jail.
Now the big question is how many more reports need to come in, before an all-out measure is taken?
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