224 girls were raped in the first 8 months of this year (January-August). During the same period, 81 people were killed and 133 girls committed suicide.
This information was presented at the presentation of the situation monitoring report of the girl child organized at Tafazzal Hossain Manik Mia Hall of National Press Club on Tuesday (September 24).
The event was organized by the National Girl Child Advocacy Forum in collaboration with Educo Bangladesh.
National Coordinator of National Girl Child Advocacy Forum Syeda Ahsana Zaman (Annie) presented the original article based on information collected from various national and local dailies of the country. He said, despite the fact that the maximum punishment for rape is the death penalty, rape is increasing as if it were a competition.
A total of 224 female children have been raped in the last 8 months. Apart from this, 32 female children were tried to be raped. Among them, 134 were single rape victims, 33 girls were victims of gang rape, and 9 were disabled girls.
He also said that no one was spared from this heinous barbaric behavior irrespective of religion, caste and group. 35 girl children were raped in the trap of love act. One-year-old children are also victims of the heinous crimes like rape and gang-rape. Those who are far from understanding sex, have not even learned to speak.
Syeda Ahsana Zaman said that 81 female children have been killed in the last 8 months. Some of the reasons were family conflict, pre-existing family enmity, rape or sexual abuse. Besides, 20 female children died mysteriously. But no clear reason or explanation was found as to why the death occurred.
Highlighting the facts of suicide, Annie said that it is not desirable for any child to choose the path of suicide, not only girls. Through this responsibility comes on the family, society and even the state. But in the last 8 months, 133 girls chose suicide. The main reasons behind this are depression, family discord or conflict, rejection in love and sexual abuse and rape, which have no safe haven to express fearlessly.
President of National Girl Child Advocacy Forum and Head of Electoral System Reform Commission Dr. Badiul Alam Majumder said, if the girl child is a victim of deprivation, then the whole nation will have to pay the price. Although we have done well in many areas in our country, we have not done well in the field of nutrition. The main reason is neglect of girl children and not investing properly in them.
He also said that in the context of Bangladesh, the malnutrition rate of female children is higher than that of male children since birth. Even in the past, girl children were deprived of going to school. Now in many cases their name is written in school, but they don’t actually go to school. They are deprived of learning. Also, female children are given in marriage before reaching adulthood. Those to whom they are given in marriage are also much older than these minor daughters. As a result, they become pregnant at a young age. Due to which both mother and child suffer from malnutrition.
Bangladesh Women Lawyers Association Executive Director Advocate Salma Ali was also present at the event – National Girl Child Advocacy Forum Vice President Shaheen Akhtar Dolly, Good Neighbors Bangladesh Country Director Mainuddin Mainul, Educo Bangladesh Child Rights and Protection Specialist Md. Shahidul Islam, Educo Bangladesh Policy and Advocacy Manager Halima Akhter and others.
