Bangladesh Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA) on Monday held eve-teasing prevention and legal aid camp in Barisal city.
The eve teasing prevention camp under legal literacy session held at Oxford Mission School and the legal aid camp held at Razzak Colony of ward-10 under Barisal City Corporation with the financial assistances from Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).The programmes were conducted and addressed by Advocate Munira Begum, Kamrunnahar Tanu, Keka Ansari, Masuk Kamal of BNWLA, Polonius Guda, headmaster, Dipali Bain, Samir Kumar Roy, teachers of Oxford Mission School and participated by stake holders.The speakers at programme under legal literacy session against eve teasing said Bangladesh, a developing country, though holding quite a small area is flooded with uncountable problems. Among these, eve-teasing, recently has become the burning issue for the country because of its adverse effects on women, especially to the teenage girls.School and college going female students and tender children is falling victim to brutality of eve teasing and sexual harassments surpassing the previous records even after specified directions of the High Court to prevent the crime, they noticed.One of the most adverse consequences of eve-teasing would be the rise in drop-out rate of girls from school. Those who are the victims are also sometimes forced into marriage, before they are mentally or physically matured, the speakers opined.
The frustration that majority of the youth in Bangladesh suffer often dissatisfied by indifferent parents and the inappropriate behavior of teachers. The case is also for those who fail to inherit proper values from their family, the participants noted.The another reason is the influence of western media, for those who hold a mixed trace on sensitivity towards women’s issues, they said by taking oath to become active for plying role in preventing eve-teasing .In the legal aid camp, BNWLA leaders and stake holders stressed on preventing dowry, early marriage, domestic violence and spreading education and empowerment for the girls and females for ensuring their legal rights, safety, security.All the legal action will only be successful when we as a nation will change our attitudes. If we want to get rid of violence against women, we need to change the attitudes of men and engrave a self generated respect for women coming from their heart, they opined. Barisal Corresponded
