Child witnesses of domestic abuses become abusers later

Children who grow up witnessing abuse in the family often become abusers themselves in adult life, said Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP) President Ayesha Khanam yesterday.

Ninety-five percent of violence against women is carried out by family members, she told a human chain before Jatiya Press Club in the capital, which was formed by BMP condemning the recent incident of domestic violence where a woman's eye was gouged out by her husband and his family for dowry.

They organised the human chain with the slogan "The perception of family and society should be changed".

On July 17, a day before Eid, Rabiul Islam gouged out one of his wife Sukhi Begum's eyes while his siblings -- Idris Ali, Akter Hosen and Dholi Begum -- pinned her down.

Shukhi was later rescued by neighbours and Rabiul was handed over to police.

"I do not want to see another sister lose her eye like this," said Shukhi's brother Md Mohsin, urging the government to ensure maximum punishment for the perpetrators.

 Doctors have replaced Shukhi's right eye with a plastic one and treatment of the left eye is still on. "However, doctors are yet to confirm whether she would be able to use the left eye again or not," Mohsin told The Daily Star.

Shukhi's seven-year-old daughter Lubna Akter was also present at the human chain.

Meanwhile, Meher Afroze Chumki, state minister of Women and Children Affairs, went to visit Shukhi, who is undergoing treatment at the National Institute of Eye Science and Hospital at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.

 "We want the other perpetrators arrested soon and a quick trial of the crime," she said assuring that her ministry would provide assistance to Shukhi and Lubna, reported Bangla Daily Prothom Alo.