THE reported increase in rape cases raised concern about whether the government鈥檚 much-publicised reform agenda included ending male violence and patriarchy in the changed political context. Since the interim government was installed in August 2024, police data report 4,293 rape cases. In April, 684 rape cases were recorded, the highest in 28 months since January 2023. In March, after the death after rape of a child in Magura, the government said that preventing gender-based crimes was its priority. Yet, in June, a Hindu woman in Muradnagar was gang-raped and subjected to further social harassment when the perpetrator released the video on social media. After the fall of the Awami League regime, the police force had virtually disappeared for around two weeks and the government still appears struggling to restore law and order. Rights activists blame the government鈥檚 such a failure for the reported increase in rape incidents.
The inspector general of police tried to avoid shouldering responsibility by saying that rape is not a preventive crime and that the police cannot prevent crimes taking place in private places. The police have, in fact, also been a failure in ensuring women鈥檚 safety in public places. In May, two young women were assaulted on the deck of a launch in Munshiganj. In March, a woman was sexually harassed on the University of Dhaka campus. In both cases, the accused were welcomed with flower garlands by an anti-women mob after they had secured bail. When such cases indicate a rise in anti-women right-wing activism, government responses often trivialise women鈥檚 safety concern. On the physical assault of two young women over smoking in public on March 1, the home affairs adviser鈥檚 remark deflected attention from women鈥檚 safety and turned it into a matter of public smoking, which is a civil offence equally for men and women. In an alarming display of undemocratic and anti-women sentiment, at protests of the Hefazat-e-Islam on May 3 demanding the cancellation of the women鈥檚 affairs commission, a group of men beat a sari-clad woman鈥檚 effigy on the Dhaka University campus and carried placards with misogynistic messages. The government, which has initiated the commission, has so far made no statement, condemning the attack on members of the commission. Silence, indecisive moves or outright inaction have emboldened the anti-women forces and signalled that one can get away with rape.
The interim government should, therefore, make its policy position against rape explicit and take early, effective measures to improve law and order to stop all forms of sexual violence.
