Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on Wednesday demanded effective enforcement of laws to stop violence against women and girls in the society as crimes like rape can’t be resisted due to the lack of exemplary punishment in time in most of the cases.
The organisation also stressed the need for the coordinated initiative to change the social mindset towards women, said a press release sent to the media on the eve of the 16-day Activism against Gender-based violence launched globally on Wednesday.
The TIB strongly demanded ensuring tough and exemplary punishment through fair judicial process for those who are directly or indirectly involved in every incident of violence against women and girls.
It thought that the repression of women and girls has risen alarmingly amid the ongoing Coronavirus crisis due to many reasons including social mindset, financial insolvency, visible incompetence, neglect and partiality of a section of the law enforcers, lengthy judicial process, insecurity and greed for power and assets.
“The Corona pandemic has multiplied the violence against women alongside the health crisis,” said TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman.
According to the counts of non-governmental organizations providing legal assistance to the repressed women, the violence incidents against women have increased by 70 percent till March-April last compared to its trend in the previous year. “The brutal crime like rape is spreading like an epidemic due to lack of justice,” he said.
Dr Iftekharuzzaman said though the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, 2000 and the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act, 2010 remain effective, a very few perpetrators got sentences in the cases filed under the laws.
