Dhaka, Feb 24 In Bangladesh, students took out a protest march outraged by the interim government's failure to stop the rising incidents of sexual violence against women and children in recent days.
The protests occurred on Sunday at many prominent educational institutions in Dhaka such as Jagannath University, Eden College, Government Titumir College, the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), and BRAC University.
Students chanted slogans like, "Wake up government!", "End the silence, punish the rapists!", "Stop the violence, protect women!" and "Hang the rapists!".
Citing the failure of the administration to prevent the crimes, the students also demanded the resignation of Bangladesh’s Home Affairs Adviser. The students lashed out at the government on the alarming number of rape incidents in the past 48 hours and described it as evidence of extreme lawlessness.
Samiha Chowdhury, a University student in Dhaka said "With rape cases surging, we are afraid to step outside. Even going to university feels unsafe. We want immediate action from the government," reports Bangladesh's leading newspaper, The Daily Star.
The report, "Statistics of Violence Against Women and Girl Children: September 2024," by Bangladesh Mahila Parishad stated violence against women and children saw a significant rise in September. It was formed based on reports published in 16 daily Bangla newspapers from September. As per the report, the incidents of sexual violence against women sharply increased. Also, five girls and nine women who were victims of sexual violence took their own lives. There were also cases where perpetrators of crime killed the victim.
According to another monthly media monitoring report by Bangladesh Mahila Parishad titled, "Statistics of Violence against Women and Girl Child: October 2024", a total of 200 girls and women suffered various forms of violence in October.
The incidents of violence against women further increased in December 2024 and January 2025. The media monitoring report by Bangladesh Mahila Parishad stated that a total of 205 women and girls were subjected to violence in January 2025, up from 163 cases in December.
Several cases of sexual violence against women were also reported in February 2025. The Bangladesh Mahila Parishad condemned the increasing incidents of crime against women on Sunday, while questioning the effectiveness of law enforcement in Bangladesh, according to reports from The Daily Star.
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