The New Nation - Internet Edition

Stop acid terrorism on women

Tayeb Husain

Acid attack and dowry menace becoming common news from Bangladesh. Yesterday, 2nd March 08, I read an utmost pathetic story in a Dhaka daily about an 18 years old girl, a victim of acid attack by nobody but her illustrious husband. The girl's name is Nila and the name of the criminal husband is Akbar.

Nila was married to this Akbar, an ex-expatriate from Saudi Arabia. He did not demand any dowry and there was no quarrel for which Akbar, the horrendous monster, attacked Nila with acid in the middle of the night. What Nila recalls is that the fiend was angry at her because she wanted to visit her parents. He was very upset for such a very trifle matter. Nila tried to settle the issue but the cruel beast did not calm down. After dinner he went to the market, bought some acid and at mid night when Nila woke up she saw him sitting on a chair with his eyes bloodshot out of anger. When she asked him what had happened, the brute just walked up to her with a glassful of acid and poured it down over her head. The action was quick and the result was total destruction of Nila's face and vital organs with deep burns. Nila is now under treatment in a hospital bed. Her normal life, for sure, is fully obliterated if she survived. A monster who was her husband could do such a heinous act on this poor unfortunate girl. My heart bleeds at the tragedy that occurred due to deliberate act by a criminal called the husband.

Today, 3rd Feb, I read another sad story in the same daily again about a 22 years young housewife with a 3 year old child who died at Dhaka Medical College hospital on Feb 22 early in the morning. The young housewife's name is Rupa Begum and she died after her husband and in-laws allegedly set her on fire as Rupa's family refused to give dowry. Rupa was married in 2003 with one Manik Bepari and her family gave Tk 50,000, gold ornaments and furniture worth Tk one lakh as dowry. After six month Manik and his family demanded Tk one lakh again for sending Manik to Saudi Arabia. They often tortured Rupa to get the demand fulfilled and on Feb 22 after an argument Manik and his family members set Rupa on fair in the early hours at about 04:00; ninety percent of her body was burnt and she died after 10 days.

These sorts of news reports from Bangladesh are the worst sorts of criminal stories one can read in the Bangladeshi media. What has gone wrong with the people there? How on earth one can be so cruel and inhuman to a fellow human being? We know life is tough and poverty is rampant but Bangladesh was never such a land of criminals as it is today than it was, say 35 years before even though economically the country is much better off than it ever have been. Corruption and criminality seem to be the way of life in Bangladesh. Can something be done about it? Let Bangladesh government and the civil society ponder for a while and let them do something to cure, at least, the two above mentioned diseases.

The cases of acid throwing and setting fire on women are crimes that need immediate action and it can not and should not wait one more day. These sorts of crimes are horrendous and equally merciless action must be taken against those who commit such crimes.

I am against all sorts of capital punishments; it is against human dignity and no doubt it becomes a crime against a crime. Nobody has the right to take someone's life for whatever the excuse it may be. For taking an action by which someone, even a criminal, is killed by firing squad or by hanging by the authority is no good. Life is precious by all means. But in a country like Bangladesh and when acid throwing and setting fire on women have become a common crime, I strongly recommend that capital punishment be the norm and only punishment for crime like such.

Action against dowry is also over due. Girls from Bangladesh's Hindu community were the victims of this crime for centuries. Now it has become a norm even among the Muslims. That is great same and a crime against the woman folk. There should be laws, if there are no such laws as yet in Bangladesh that forbid acid throwing, setting fire and dowry taking. These sorts of offences should be punished properly specially the first two crimes. Acid throwers and woman burners, without giving a second thought, should be executed by firing squad or by hanging. I suggest that the military backed caretaker government evoke this type of law immediately and use it mercilessly against acid throwers or woman burners.

I beg to readers for forgiveness for suggesting such a law but considering the graveness of the crime I endorse and even go further to say that such a criminal may be executed publicly in city squares. Horrendous crimes need to be tackled by equally ruthless means.

Dowry is a criminal act and it shows utmost dishonour to women. Anybody who claims dowry should be considered a criminal and by ruthless law such a criminal should be punished. Huge fine and even 3-5 years jail sentence may be introduced as punishment for anybody who demands dowry or agree to paid dowry. It is time that Bangladesh learns to respect and protect her woman folk.

The budget that overlooks women

Anuradha Bhasin

The woman-related announcement that made any news in the Union budget for 2008-09 was the increase in the exemption limit in income taxes. The exemption limit for women was raised to Rs 180,000 (US$1=Rs 39.3) a year, and to Rs 150,000 for men.

Other than this, the budget also increased the total allocation for the Ministry of Women and Child Development by 24 per cent over the last year to Rs 7,200 crore (Rs 72,000 million). Within this, the largest amounts of funding have been allotted to empowering and building capacity of self-help groups (Rs 200 crore or Rs 2,000 million); helping victims of rape and destitution (Rs 40 crore or Rs 400 million);

strengthening women's traditional skills (Rs 37 crore or Rs 370 million); promoting micro-credit among poor women (Rs 31 crore or Rs 310 million); and setting up hostels for working women (Rs 20 crore). Additionally, a sum of Rs 23 crore (Rs 230 million) has been allotted for initiatives to increase women's empowerment and livelihoods programmes in conjunction with the International Fund for Agricultural

Development (IFAD), to be introduced in four districts in Uttar Pradesh and two in Bihar.

There is also funding for programmes related to women run by other departments and ministries. Reminding us that "policy makers often tend to forget that one-half

of the population is constituted by women and they are entitled to an equal share - and an equal say - in all programmes and schemes", the Finance Minister, P.

Chidambaram, allocated a total of Rs 11,460 crore (Rs 114,600 million) for schemes that are fully women-centric; and Rs 16,202 crore (RS 162,020 million) for those which are at least 30 per cent women-specific.

So, on the face of it, the budget has a lot in it for women. But even a quick glance at some of the indicators relating to women in India show how very inadequate this kind of gradualist approach is.

Despite high and sustained growth in the economy for several years, outcomes relating to poor women continue to be abysmal, and have even declined in recent years, showing that we have miles to go before we even catch up with some of our economically deprived neighbours. More than half of the women in India give birth without the help of a skilled birth attendant compared to three per cent of the women in Sri Lanka or China (Approach to the Eleventh Plan).

Not surprisingly our maternal mortality rate (deaths per 100,000 deliveries) is as high as 540, against 92 in Sri Lanka and 41 in Malaysia (WHO). Anaemia among women has increased over the past seven years, even among pregnant women, so today that 55 per cent of the women in the country are suffering from this grave nutritional deficiency (NFHS-3). India also continues to rank embarrassingly low in the Gender Development Index - it is at 113, out of 157 countries, something that is unacceptable in a country aspiring to be one of the global economic giants.

To this extent, the gradual inching up of budgetary provisions aimed at women is not enough. Even within the Ministry of Woman and Child, the bulk of the funds allotted actually go to child-related initiatives - of this year's Rs 7,200 crore, women's programmes get a measly Rs 427 crore (Rs 4,270 million). While the welfare of both sections of the population is interrelated, this just goes to show how far we still are from the 30 per cent budgetary allotment for women promised in the Women's Component Plan as far back as 1997.

Also, if we are to really help women, funds allotted for them should target poor and deprived women.

Publicly funded initiatives need to focus on women from the lower social and economic strata, as they face multiple discrimination on the basis of caste and class, whether they live in the rural or urban areas.

Literacy rates among 'adivasi' (tribal) and 'dalit' (outcaste) women is far lower than the overall female literacy rate, and there is significant deprivation among Muslim women.

Unfortunately, this is a limitation of the gender budgeting exercise as it is currently formulated - it reports on women as a homogenous group, and does not sift out how much of the funds reach really needy women and how much goes to those who are 'more equal than others'. But there is evidence to show that less than 10 per cent of the total gender budgeting pool goes to women who are most marginalised and discriminated against, and even this share is declining.

What is needed is a very large budgetary thrust aimed at poor and marginalised women. This push can best be given by specifying a minimum share of resources from the relevant ministries to be dedicated for the development of poor women, and then transferring any shortfall in the use of this share to a non-lapsable pool of resources.

Such a process was introduced a few years ago for the Northeast, for just such a reason - to tackle its enormous social and physical infrastructure backlog and enable its residents to catch up with the rest of the country. And it is beginning to show steady results. When we talk of the poor and marginalised women, we refer to a far larger share of the population suffering gross inequities, with no hope of catching up without a quantum boost. Unfortunately, raising income tax exemption limits and tinkering with budgetary allocations is just not enough.

Cross-examination of rape victims nothing but mental torture

Snigdha Madhuri

Jerin Rahman, a pretty but meek schoolgirl, is full of dreams. Why not? After all she is a good student. Her mother wants to achieve through her what she could not do in her student life. But one day, some local goons shattered all of their dreams.

The wayward youths who had long been teasing Jerin (not her real name) picked up her on her way to school and gang-raped her in an abandoned house of Mohammadpur area barely six months ago.

Upset, Jerin's parents filed a case with a Women and Children Repression Prevention special court seeking justice only to see they are awaiting another humiliation.

During the trial, the defence lawyer asked Jerin a volley of insensitive questions what she found indecent. In a crowded court, the lawyer asked the distressed girl to describe how she was raped.

At one stage of the trial, Jerin became mentally ill and attempted to commit suicide.

Jerin, who was a student of class IX when the worst thing happened to her, never visited her school since then.

Another girl, Hasna Banu (name changed to protect privacy) from Manikganj fell victim to a rapist, Rahim Miah, a few months back. Hasna Banu filed a case against Rahim, seeking justice. During the trial, the teenager became mentally ill and began considering herself guilty of the rape.

"I've been harmed physically, socially due to the rape. But the way the defence counsel asked me obscene questions it was more harmful and disgraceful for me. Now I rather wish to die. It's a sin to be born as a girl," Hasna says.

Undoubtedly, rape is the most terrible thing for a woman. Due to rape, a woman is harmed not only physically and socially, but also mentally as the victim is haunted by trauma. Her bahaviour changes and she starts hating herself and distrusting others.

Ishrat Jahan Bithi, a psychologist of Bangladesh Rehabilitation Centre for Trauma Victims, says, "After being raped, a woman develops a number of psychological problems along with physical problems. She loses her confidence all together. She is embarrassed when she is asked filthy questions in court. In such a situation, a victim may even try to commit suicide."

Kaniz Fatema, programme officer of human rights organisation Odhikar, says, "It's a legal process that in a rape case the defence lawyer will question the victim. But, in court such indecent questions and gestures are asked and made in presence of many, which mentally devastate a victim. In many cases, many victims withdraw their cases to avoid this type of unwarranted situation."

In the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, 2003, a section, 'Trial in camera', has been included so that during cross-examination the victim does not face inhuman and uneasy situation. Under this section, the victim is supposed to be questioned in a closed room in presence of only the judge and the lawyers from both sides. And the victim's statement is recorded and heard again, if necessary.

Section 20(6) relating to the trial process of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, 2003 states that the trial proceedings of the crime can take place in a closed room under section 9 of the law.

"But the trial in camera section is hardly practiced," says Farida Yasmin, deputy director (Law) of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) and a Supreme Court lawyer.

She says, "The questions defence lawyers ask the victims are very shameful, disgraceful, humiliating and objectionable. In most cases, defence counsels intentionally ask obscene questions to get some sort of pleasure. They also try to prove the victims as characterless by diverting the cases to other directions. Since the cross-examinations take place in front of many people, victims feel humiliated and get demoralised. Some victims even commit suicide."

She says, "In court, efforts are made by the defence lawyer to find the sexual history of the complainant. To win the case, the defence lawyer asks irrelevant questions one after another. The raped woman is asked how many males raped her, how much of the penis entered, if she tried to resist at that time and if she got any pleasure. This is how the woman is re-raped by the court."

Lawyer Salma Jabin, coordinator of the litigation unit of Ain o Shalish Kendra, says till now there has been no enforcement of the 'trial in camera' section. She emphasises the amendment of the law for imposing some restrictions on questioning in court.

Bangladesh Mohila Parishad general secretary Ayesha Khanam says, "In court, lawyers torture women time and time again with their filthy words. This type of harassment in the trial proceedings is the reflection of gender insensitiveness and perversion of all concerned. Everyone must change this mentality." From the psychological perspective, the questioning of victims in court about rape is very damaging and inhuman, says Dr Mahmudur Rahman, chairman of Dhaka University's psychology department. "A victim never has the mental strength to speak up standing in courts. This process of questioning in courts of our country is inhuman."

Eminent lawyer Anisur Rahman, also a teacher of Stamford University in Dhaka, says, "If the court atmosphere is not friendly, the victim will be in an uncomfortable situation in describing the incident. Restrictions should be imposed on cross-examinations by lawyers by amending the rape-related laws." He says, "In court, defence lawyers ask such questions, which are irrelevant in many cases. The lawyers try to make the whole environment juicy to be relished by perverted people and that is unfortunate."

Anisur Rahman lays emphasis on change of mentality of the lawyers, having separate courts for trying rape cases, full enforcement of the 'trial in camera' section, imposing some restrictions on questioning and appointment of female public prosecutors and assistant public prosecutors to conduct rape cases.

Rehana Sultana, a lawyer of Bangladesh Mohila Ainjibi Parishad, says under the Witness Act of 1872, a lawyer has the right to ask any question to prove any incident. But, a lawyer should not cross the limit of decency by asking obscene and irrelevant questions. 'Trial in camera' section is not enforced due mainly to lack of clear idea about human rights law among lawyers.

About enforcement of the 'trial in camera', she says, "The judges and lawyers must have a clear idea about law and the lawyers for victims should apply to court for having 'trial in camera'.