The Bangladesh government has imposed the death penalty for rape in response to a wave of protests. The protests were aimed at the increasing number of reports of gang rape and other forms of sexual violence.
“Every day there are new stories in the newspaper about sexual violence against women,” a student who took part in the demonstrations told Reuters news agency. “I’m afraid I’m next. I want rapists to be sentenced to death so these inhuman creeps know what happens when they do that.”
A human rights group counted nearly a thousand examples in Bangladesh between January and September this year. About 20 percent of that consisted of gang rapes.
Video
The latest example was the rape of a young woman in the southeastern district of Noakhali. She was attacked and abused by a group of men. A video of that was circulated on social media.
Eight suspects have been arrested in the case. Research has shown that one of them had raped and threatened the woman more often in the past year.
Last week, a woman in the northeastern district of Sylhet met the same fate; she too was raped by a group of men. Several members of the youth movement of a political party have been arrested in connection with this.
Few convictions
Experts believe that stricter sentences alone will not solve the problem. Lawsuits often last for years and a conviction is not often reached.
There is also the problem that women often do not dare to report it out of shame. The victims who do so run the risk of friends or family of suspects retaliating.
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