DT e-Paper 14 April 2017

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2 News FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2017 DT How safe are women on Pohela Boishakh? • Arifur Rahman Rabbi and Esha Aurora After the massive public outcry over the sexual assault of several women on Pohela Boishakh in 2015, the government imposed a cut-off time on celebrations last year in an attempt to treat the symptoms of the problem while overlooking the problem itself. Similarly this year, a cut-off time has been declared with all programmes at Dhaka University asked to wrap-up by 5pm, as instructed by Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP). It has been two years since the disturbing pictures of around 30 men ripping off womens’ clothing in broad daylight in Suhrawardy Udyan surfaced all over social media. The perpetrators of those crimes are yet to be brought to justice, despite their photos being widely circulated. The memories of that incident are still very fresh in most people’s minds, deterring some women from going to Dhaka University premises for Pohela Boishakh celebrations this year. “I will not go to see the Mongol Shobhajatra this year, I still remember the images of those men tearing up women’s clothes and touching them right in front of the police and they did nothing!” said Jahan Ferdous Mim, a college student. The lack of initiative from law enforcement agencies especially in the case of sexual harassment is a big problem in Bangladesh. Such cases of sexual assault and harassment are usually treated with a pinch of salt and peppered with notes of victim blaming, without addressing the underlying internalised patriarchal values that our law enforcers also operate from. UNDP had initiated a gender sensitivity orientation programme in 2008 called ‘Police Reform Programme Phase II’ and introduced the country’s first victim support Several men surround and assault a woman in the crowd in front of Dhaka University's Teacher Student Centre on Pohela Boishakh in 2015. Despite many clear photos and CCTV footage, these men have not been apprehended DHAKA TRIBUNE centre at Tejgaon Police Station in Dhaka. When asked what they had learned during the programme, the participating police officials declined to comment and the Dhaka Tribune could not independently verify the extent of their capacity building training in handling victims of sexual assault and abuse. Although CCTV coverage and police special teams will be used at Ramna Batamul, Suhrawardy Udyan, DU and adjoining areas to help prevent sexual harassment, mugging and other crimes, women are still uncomfortable going to large public gatherings as often justice eludes the victim even when the perpetrators are found. Eti Laila Kazi, a private university lecturer, told the Dhaka Tribune she wanted to go to the Pohela Boishakh celebrations at Dhaka University but thought against it as large throngs of people gathered in one place “always results in some form of sexual harassment for women”. “I don’t want to go because women will invariably be touched inappropriately and be sexually harassed or assaulted and this will keep on happening unless people stop viewing women as objects,” she said. “Large public gatherings are always swamped with men touching you and some kind of verbal or physical sexual harassment is inevitable which makes public celebrations lose their appeal. I wish the police took this problem seriously and made an example of some people,” she said. Executive Director of Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers’ Association (BNWLA), Salma Ali, told the Dhaka Tribune that exemplary punishments are needed to deter further sexual harassment. “If people are prosecuted under due process and punished for the crime, such things could be deterred. But more often than not we see law enforcers are unable to arrest the accused or prevent such things from happening in public places,” she said. DU authorities and student groups blamed the on-duty law enforcers for failing to arrest or even stop the attackers on April 14, 2015. Some people did step forward to help, including Bangladesh Students’ Union’s DU chapter President Liton Nandi, who was injured while trying to rescue one woman. “I saw them assaulting a young woman and she fell on the ground while the youths were trying to take off her clothes,” he said. “As I came forward to rescue her, they started beating me and I also fell down and broke my right arm. Later, I saved the woman and covered her with my Panjabi.” Amid a wave of condemnation on social media at the time, a meme generating page on Facebook took up the cause of finding the perpetrators of the attacks. They published the photos of some Chhatra League leaders and demanded their arrest. On April 21, 2015, the page claimed that the government’s high officials had asked them to stop operations, although none of the admins responded to questions regarding this to verify the allegation. The Administrator of that page, Refayat Ahmed, was arrested on December 11, 2015 for anti-state and anti-government activities. • Two years on, Pohela Boishakh sexual assaulters still not brought to book • Md Sanaul Islam Tipu Police investigating the sexual harassment of women during the Pohela Boishakh celebrations at Dhaka University in 2015 have identified only one suspect, despite releasing photographs of eight others and posting a substantial reward for information which might lead to their arrest. According to witnesses, at least 20 women were sexually assaulted in an hour by a group of rowdy youths on the evening of April 14, 2015. Witnesses alleged that several police officers were standing nearby at the time of the incident, but did nothing to prevent the assaults. One officer is even said to have released two of the culprits who were caught red-handed by the public. Police in the first instance denied having any evidence of sexual assault and termed the incident “a mere scuffle”. In response to the mass public outcry which followed, Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque told the media that they had recognised the faces of eight people and offered a reward of Tk 1 lakh for information which would lead to the arrest of each. Police also released photos of the eight suspected youths, who were captured on CCTV cameras installed around the scene. But two years on from the attacks, the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) has submitted a charge sheet accusing only one perpetrator, who is still awaiting trial. Detective Branch (DB) of police were given the responsibility to investigate the case. After eight months, the case investigation officer DB Sub inspector Dipok Kumar submitted a report before a Dhaka court in December 13, 2015 which said he had failed to identify any of the suspects. But the IO later appealed to the court seeking the re-opening of the case following the arrest of a suspect, identified as Md Kamal, from Dhaka’s Chawkbazar on January 27, 2016. Four weeks later, a Dhaka court directed the PBI for re-investigation in the case but investigators again failed to identify the suspects. On December 20 last year, the PBI submitted a charge sheet against the lone arrestee in the case. However, Kamal’s counsel Anisur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune that his client is innocent and was not involved in the assaults. Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s court sent the charge sheet to the Dhaka Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-3 on January 2, where the charge acceptance is now pending. The Special Public Prosecutor of the tribunal, Mahmuda Aktar, told the Dhaka Tribune that the hearing on the charge sheet would be held on May 2. •
News 3 FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2017 MONGOL SHOBHAJATRA Carnival of intangible cultural heritage DT • Afrose Jahan Chaity A tradition that is being observed for more than two decades now, the Mongol Shobhajatra has become an intrinsic part of the Bangali cultural heritage on Pohela Boishakh. For the past 27 years, the colourful processions adorned with floats, banners and posters not only represented the welcoming of the Bangla New Year on the first day of the Bangla month Boishakh, but also cultural revolutions and movements against oppression. Brought out first in 1989, the procession of Bangla year 1396 was styled as Anondo Shobhajatra. The colourful procession was started by a few first year students of Dhaka University’s Faculty of Fine Arts with the help of their teachers to promote and celebrate folk art and culture. It was a breath of fresh air during the military dictatorship of HM Ershad. The Mongol Shobhajatra of this year, Bangla year 1424, is also special as the traditional procession received international recognition from Unesco. On November 30 last year, the Inter-governmental Committee on Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage of Unesco stated that the Mongol Shobhajatra “symbolises the pride of the people of Bangladesh in their living heritage as well as their strength and courage to fight sinister forces, and their vindication of truth and justice.” The Fine Arts Faculty of Dhaka University will bring out the celebratory procession for Pohela Boishakh today in the morning which will have a float of a demon, among other colourful ones, portraying a militant and representing their stance against militancy. Moreover, a Mongol Shobhajatra procession will also be held in Kolkata for the very first time on Saturday, April 15. Aminul Hasan Litu, secretary member of Mongol Shobhajatra and Folk Culture Research and Expansion Centre, was one of the first year students of DU Fine Arts Faculty who worked for the very first procession in 1989. While talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Litu said: “At the time, we were frustrated over the political situation in the country and we thought of bringing out a positive demonstration to celebrate our cultural heritage. “We worked at a corner of our Fine Arts premises but had to face a lot of criticism regarding our work. We were mocked and our work was compared to trash. “But when we brought out the procession on April 14, 1989, everything changed. “A few faculty members helped us and we were appreciated by the DU vice-chancellor who later asked our dean why he was not invited to the procession. “After that, we continued our protest against the military dictatorship and when it ended, we [the students involved with the first procession] decided to go to our home towns and also other districts for the next Pohela Boishakh and bring out the procession through out the country.” •
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