In a backward society characterized by all forms of violence against women, it is hard to create a foundation for ensuring basic needs and minimum rights of women, let alone equal dignity. When violence is the order of the day, good news can be resistance against it. When someone has already become a victim of the circumstances, it is important to raise voices of the conscientious people leading to the process of establishing a just system. A society progresses as and when the voices of the evils are silenced.
Jesmin, an undergraduate student at the Local Women Degree College, Lalmohirhat, is such a victim. She has been bearing ugly marks of acid burns on her face since January 2006 when miscreants threw acid on her after she had turned down the marriage proposal from one of her cousins. Tahura hopes the spots on her face would go away after surgery but she is aggrieved that the culprit, Faridul, is freely roaming about. Her father Thomasof Maddhyo Goddimari village took money for making an outside-the-court settlement with the family of the main accused. “I want justice, not money. I did not even touch the money that my father had received,” Tahura said at the A NGO office in Hatibandha. She mentioned that she was pressured at the family level to accept the settlement. “I was not a witness as I was sleeping during the incident and taking advantage of this, my family refrained from depositing witnesses before the court.” Even then, she dared to spell out her story because she receives a certain amount of money from the Acid Survivors Foundation regularly. A NGO, too, is beside her.
Tahura’s case came to the limelight when rights campaigners under the banner of local professional body held demonstrations demand the arrest of the accused. “Tahura was sent to Dhaka with the assistance of BRAC at that time. Acid Survivors Foundation took her responsibility and we announced various programmes that impelled the police to arrest the culprit,” said her teacher and a member of the professional forum, Anwara Begum. She maintained that they had virtually nothing to do when her father made compromise but “no incident of acid throwing occurred since then.”
Monika, a housewife in Charjatrapur village in Kurigram Sadar, was divorced five years back. She got married again and she has no hesitation now to tell about her past and still feel happy about the new family and children. Yasmin, a 13-year-old schoolgirl of Nooranipara village, confidently declined to marry a boy from the neighbouring village. She was provided with necessary supports when the issue was brought to the attention of local Social Welfare Federation’s vice president Hajera Begum. Nurul Islam of Madarganj village in Thakurgaon Sadar got married with Asma nine months ago but he did not claim any dowry. Asked about it, he said dowry is restricted by Muslim laws although enforcement such laws that protect women’s rights has not been seen in many cases. Janata Rani Roy, also from Thakurgaon Sadar, feels that she should be given rights of possessing property as she raised the issue at the Awliapur Federation. She raised voice even after her husband, Biswanath of Hajrapara had demanded dowry.
Many women like her raised their voices and there has been significant improvement in asserting the women’s rights and privileges. The spill-over effects of the campaign and publicity have also been found in the northern region. Symptoms of women empowerment are the manifestations of tremendous progress if they are compared with the status of women in a completely under-developed society. But what is yet to be done in general is the empowerment through full establishment of rights over property and poverty eradication through income generating activities can help the poor women to improve their status. A NGO has projects on this but it requires concerted efforts of all to do so.
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