The New Nation - Internet Edition

Tania Tun Nur

Domestic violence is still considered a "personal matter" and ignored by the community. Besides, the country does not have an effective domestic violence protection act. As a result Bangladesh ranks 4th highest in violence against women.

Not all violence occurring in the family are reported. For this reason we cannot get the actual figure of the occurrence. But we can assume the prevalence of this syndrome. According to statistics about 61.5 per cent men worldwide consider violence against wives as justifiable. Which shows the mind set about women's position in family.

According to UNFPA, only in Dhaka city 40 per cent women fall victim to domestic violence.

UN Declaration on elimination of violence against women define violence as an act of gender based violence that results likely in physical, sexual or psychological harms or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary depriving of liberty, whether occurring in public place or private life.

Murder by family members, physical assault, dowry violence, acid throwing, battering, deprivation of food and other resources, sexual abuse, rape, emotional abuse and forced marriage are domestic violence, which happened in family every time. These are so normal matters that they are not identified as violence.

Families of victims usually conceal the facts of violence against women due to social taboo against violated women.

The scenario of domestic violence worldwide is 1 in 3 women have been coerced to have sex or have been abused one way or another. Most often the abuser is the family member or known to the women.

In the perspective of Bangladesh this scenario is really horrible. For dowry about 135 women were murdered between January and August 2007. In the year 2006 the total death figure was 259. The occurrences of violence were 334 only for dowry.

The reported violence related incidents in 2006 was 301 but only 106 cases were filed. The data shows that about 201 women were murdered by their husbands and 35 were murdered by the husband's family members.

Murder is an extreme act of violence. In 2005 the rate of women murdered by husband was 71.92 per cent. In 2000 it was 66.09. In 2006 the rate was 70.43 per cent, according to Ain O Salish Kendra.