report in Daily Star, Apr 3, 2023
Significantly more number of girls under the age of 18 were subjected to physical torture in March, when compared to February, found a report of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad.
The findings of the report, based on incidents reported in news articles, were revealed to the public yesterday.
Only in March, 28 girls (under 18) were reported to have been physically tortured and abused, whereas the number was just five in February.
Besides, the number of reported cases of physical torture against women and girls (under and over 18 years) rose to 43 in March, from 24, in February.
According to the report, in March alone, there were 249 incidents of all forms of violence against women and girls, up from 232 in February.
Moreover, an additional seven girls were victims of rape, while five women and five girls were victims of gangrape in March alone, according to the report.
The report, “Statistics of Violence against Women and Girl Child: March, 2023 “, was based on reports published in 13 daily newspapers — The Independent, The Daily Star, New Age, The Daily Observer, The Daily Prothom Alo, Sangbad, The Daily Janakantha, Daily Jugantor, Bhorer Kagoj, Samakal, Daily Ittefaq, Kaler Kantho and Bangladesh Pratidin.
Furthermore, 22 women and girls died mysteriously in March, which was just 10 in February.
The data from the report also says that there were zero child marriages in March and six marriages between minors were prevented.
In February, three people were victims of domestic violence, but there were no such reports in March.
Moreover, no domestic help faced sexual violence this month, but one person committed suicide.
The report brought up the rise in harassment by police, where it mentioned that three women were tortured by police in March, as opposed to one in February.
The survey also found that 129 girls were victims of physical abuse or torture in March; this represents an increase of 19 cases from February.
In addition, there were four victims of trafficking in March, along with 12 of sexual harassment, 11 of kidnapping, and four of cyber crime. https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/more-women-girls-victims-violence-march-3287276
