Our vulnerable women!

On 25th September 2014, The Daily Star reported that an 18-year old girl was chained out in the open overnight for 11 hours and beaten allegedly by her boyfriend and his parents in Barisal city while no passers-by or neighbour came to her assistance. The girl had refused to withdraw cases accusing the boyfriend of raping her and trying to engage her into prostitution. The girl was rescued next morning.

Recently, a Unicef finding shows us that one of every five girls between the ages of 15 and 19 is sexually abused by her partner or husband. Add to this the fact that as many as 47 percent of adolescent girls in the country are subjected to physical or sexual violence. We, the common people of Bangladesh want these culprits to be brought to justice.

Hasna Begum
Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh