Eyes wide shut

It took the police four days to admit that at least 20 women were sexually assaulted by a large group of men during the Pahela Baishakh celebrations at the Dhaka University.

It was since April 17 -- two days after the April 14 incident that triggered waves of public protests -- that police have begun to release the surveillance camera footage of the TSC area. While these videos show that a particular group of young men led by a bearded man isolate approaching girls from others and then launch heinous sexual assault on them, the cops kept on saying that they found nothing in them.

It was not just the police, but also the Dhaka University authorities who kept repeating to the press that no woman was stripped naked -- as if one has to be stripped naked for the case to be taken seriously -- implying that there was nothing to worry about.

With such an attitude, one could easily see that the incident was being covered up without any action against the culprits, and thereby ensuring that molesters enthusiastically return to any crowd of women again.

However, the authorities finally formed two committees yesterday to investigate the crime. The police have also withdrawn Shahbagh Thana Sub-Inspector Ashraful Alam who has been accused of releasing at least two molesters -- detained by Chhatra Union leaders who tried to protect the women that day -- instead of putting him behind bars.

But this move of the police should have been a procedural action by them on the first day. Under public pressure they are now taking some steps and we are not sure if this is sincere.

This is not the first time the police have failed to carry out their basic professional responsibility. Back in February when blogger Avijit Roy was hacked to death by some militants in the same area, Avijit's wife and other people cried for help. The cops were nearby, but they did not move to save Avijit or capture the culprits.

In a follow-up news item on Avijit's incident, we learnt that the police posted on Dhaka University premises did not respond to any scuffle between people in the area because it may be just some "student vs student" affair; or may be some political activists are involved there and thereby an interference may trigger political backlash.

If the police maintain such hands-off policy on the campus, it would be natural for the cops not to act professionally when they are needed the most. We believe this is exactly what had happened in the case of the Pahela Baishakh incident.

There is no room for taking this incident of sexual assault lightly. For many years, religious fanatics have been campaigning against Pahela Baishakh, calling it “anti-Islamic” and wrongfully citing holy verses to establish that Islam has banned cultural activities like celebrating a new year. While such an interpretation is unfounded and irrelevant, many people fall for such arguments.

We have seen that after the Pahela Baishakh assault, some people blamed the women for “dressing up inappropriately”, thus putting the blame on the women for the incident and justifying their acts of molestation. If one accepts such an argument, then one also has to declare a mugger innocent because it's your fault to carry a wallet full of money, and a killer innocent because it's your fault to be disliked by the killer.

The April 14 incident may be a work of a group of fanatics or a group of perverts and rapists-in-the-making.

Therefore, the police and the authorities must break their eyes-wide-shut state and ensure that women can be safe and independent everywhere including the streets and festivals.