Awami League slams Yunus administration for rising rape incidents in Bangladesh

Dhaka, July 7 (IANS) In a span of nine days, 24 women, including an infant, were raped in Muhammad Yunus-led Bangladesh, according to the Awami League, which added that over 281,000 complaints have piled up and are still "unresolved."

"In just 9 days, 24 women were raped. Among them, a child was raped by a 60-year-old man. These numbers are horrifying, but each number hides a lifetime of pain and trauma," said the Awami League on Sunday.

According to the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's party, "Rapists aren't strangers -- they're police officers, teachers, politicians, and many roam free, protected by silence and a broken system."

"Under Yunus's illegal rule, Bangladesh is no longer a safe place for women. Every day, women are raped while the state stays silent. When survivors seek justice, they're humiliated again -- by police questions, invasive medical exams, courtroom cruelty, and society's blaming gaze. In court, survivors are shamed for their clothes and character. Cases drag on for years. Social media adds more wounds, as victims' images spread while rapists remain anonymous," the Awami League stated.

"Laws alone won't save us. We need a social revolution. Women must rise, confront, and demand justice. Men must stand with them. Silence is complicity. As long as leaders like Muhammad Yunus remain in power, nothing will change," it added.

Calling a Bangladeshi woman's body "a battlefield," the party said, "Until the state takes responsibility, this bleeding won't stop. We must challenge the state -- or women will never be safe."

Recently, the Awami League revealed the statistics mentioned that only in June, 63 incidents of rapes were reported, including 17 gang rapes, seven survivors were women/girls with disabilities, while 19 children and 23 teenage girls were raped.

Additionally, 39 cases of sexual harassment and 51 physical assaults on women were reported.

"These aren't just statistics. They are devastating proof that women and girls in Bangladesh live in constant fear," said the party.

Last week, addressing a press briefing in Dhaka, Sharmeen S. Murshid, Social Welfare and Women and Children Affairs Advisor of Bangladesh under the interim government, described the rising incidents of violence against women and children in the country as a "pandemic-level crisis."

The advisor revealed that over the past 10–11 months, 281,000 complaints have been received by the ministry's toll-free hotline.

"Violence is being committed in families, workplaces, public spaces, and online. Despite Section 14 of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act and the High Court's directives, victims' photos are still being published in the media," Bangladesh's leading daily, The Dhaka Tribune, quoted the Advisor as saying.

"Though I am a human rights activist, I now support the death penalty for these criminals. The level of violence has exceeded our tolerance," Sharmeen added.

Bangladesh has been gripped by protest movements, a deteriorating law and order situation and an increasing number of incidents of violence against women since the ouster of Hasina in August 2024, when the Yunus-led administration took the helm.

--IANS

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