Tag: Eve-teasing

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By Rahnuma Ahmed

After more than two decades of fierce struggles by leaders and activists belonging to the women’s movement, the notion of `eve teasing’ was finally banished to the dustbin where it belonged.
The High Court had given its verdict. Any kind of physical, mental or sexual harassment?note, not `eve teasing’?of women, girls and children was a criminal offence. It was punishable by fine and/or imprisonment. Until a law was made and passed, the ruling would have the status of law.
This was May last year. We rejoiced. It was a revolution, we said.
Our struggle was forged as a tribute to countless lives lost, innumerable dreams shattered. It was nourished by our determination to fight for safe campuses, streets, neighbourhoods, factories and other workplaces. We had insisted that girls and women should not have to suffer. That the fault lay with them, not with us, with the men who harass, assault and attack. That firstly, we are not, as the idea of `Eve’ suggests, temptresses, secondly, the idea of temptresses being `teased’ normalises and trivialises the matter.
We chanted these names, remember? Simi, Mohima, Shahinoor, Biva, Rumi, Alpina, Chameli, Fahima, Rahima, Indrani, Sabina , Rahela … the list kept getting longer and longer. Fresh names had to be added while we fretted over others that remained unknown.
Some incidents ignited immediate public outrage. For many others, we had to fight for recognition. We had to keep insisting that it was an outrage, as we contested prevailing orthodoxies about women’s place, women’s space, women’s bodies.
We insisted that girls and women should not have to suffer lewd comments, or unwelcome romantic overtures. That a girl should not be pressurised into marrying the neighborhood thug because he fancies her. That she should not be fearful of getting low grades because she rejected her teacher’s advances. That she should not be afraid of losing her factory job because her manager wouldn’t take `no’ for an answer.
We kept insisting that she should not be stalked. Nor should she suffer acid attacks. Nor should she be raped, gang-raped, nor murdered after being raped, that the legal recognition of sexual harassment as a crime was essential, because repeated turn-downs often lead to brutality. Sexual brutality. We insisted that girls committed suicide not because they were weak or frail but because they were persecuted relentlessly, mercilessly, ceaselessly, because they had no one to turn to, no one who stood beside them and their family members. They took their lives because they lost all hope. They should not, we insisted, have to lose all hope.
It must stop, we insisted. And so did others, writers, journalists, teachers, artists, lawyers, political and cultural activists, neighbours, passersby. They joined our rallies, marches and protests. They held placards. They extended their hands to form human chains. At times, family members, friends and acquaintances, or co-workers, took the lead, we followed. A broad consensus had been forged.
But that was last year.
This year, `eve teasing’ was brought back from the dustbin. Dirt was scrubbed off, it was polished and restored. By people in positions for which they had been hand-picked by high-ranking Awami Leaguers. Or, were closely allied with the government. Or, were part of the government.
The Awami League government at first denied all allegations about the havoc being caused by leaders and cadres of its student (Bangladesh Chatra League) and youth (Jubo League) organisations. It was a conspiracy to tarnish the ruling party’s image. But as news reports of turf wars, extortion, land-grabbing, throwing members of rival factions from rooftops, preventing contractors from submitting bid documents by brandishing weapons kept piling up, the truth could no longer be denied.
But what about sexual offences? Dead silence. Despite Pirojpur, where Mamun, information secretary of BCL’s district committee, raped a student of class X while a friend video-recorded it, selling it later as a pornographic CD in local video shops. Despite Pakhimara, where a student of class VII was abducted by a group of 16 men, raped by ten, all BCL activists. Despite reports that 4 BCL leaders and activists of Chittagong Medical College had raped a girl in the hills nearby. Despite Rajshahi university, where BCL members had assaulted a woman student?to name a few. A common thread ran through many, local-level Awami League influentials had pulled strings to hush up the incident.
Things came to a head with the Pohela Boishakh concert at Dhaka University. According to newspaper reports, 20 female students were molested by BCL cadres, outsiders joined in. Pinched and grabbed. Breasts and buttocks. Kameezes were ripped. Police rescued 15 young women from dense crowds of men who pushed and shoved, jostled and squeezed. The concert had to be abruptly closed down as BCL factions warred over who-would-get-how-much of the 40 lakh taka contract, a private mobile company was the sponsor. After the fiasco, when university authorities were contacted, they claimed not to know anything. And the BCL leadership? They too, were apparently clueless.
On April 16, a 3 day campaign was launched by Dhaka University’s Rover Scouts. It was inaugurated by the vice chancellor, professor AAMS Arefin Siddique. Others present were the pro-VC professor Harun-or-Rashid, the proctor Saiful Islam Khan, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner AKM Shahidul Haque. The banner said, `Say No to Eve-Teasing.’ People who harassed women, said the vice-chancellor, were `mentally sick,’ everyone should come forward to help them (bdnews24 April 16).