Before burning herself to death, Constable Halima Begum wrote a note revealing how her superiors had ignored an allegation of rape by a co-worker
One would expect that members of the police force would be safe from all harm. But like all other women in Bangladesh, women working in the police force also face the same problem – sexual harassment at workplace.
The suicide of 23-year-old Constable Halima Begum in April sheds light on this issue. Halima poured kerosene all over her body and set herself on fire in her room at the barrack of Gouripur police station, Mymensingh on April 2, 2017.
Before killing herself, she left behind a statement to the in-charge of police station, claiming that she was raped by Sub-Inspector Mizanul Islam of the same station and that in spite of being informed, Officer-in-Charge Delwar Ahmed did not take any action.
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According to a statistics of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) Bangladesh, more than 10% female police personnel face some form of sexual harassment at workplace.
At the mid-level, 2.7% of sub-inspectors and 3.3% of assistant sub-inspectors reported experiencing sexual harassment. In the lower tier, among constables, the number is more than 10%.
Unfortunately, around 12% of these officials do not know that they lodge complaints against sexual harassment at workplace, said the study, titled ‘Rough Road to Equality: Bangladesh Police’ conducted in 2013.
Executive member of Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers Association (BNWLA) Advocate Fahima Nasrin Munni said: “Although the finding of this study says about 10% of female law enforcement officials are harassed, in reality the figure is more than 50%.
“I personally know of many cases of women working in the police and defense, who refrain from making any complaints, fearing further humiliation inside the force.”
The inclusion of women in Bangladesh Police is comparatively new.
According to a 2015 statistic, the number of female police in the force is 8,827 which is only 6.03% of the total workforce.
Female police officials stand guard at Naya Paltan, Dhaka Syed Zakir Hossain
The CHRI study suggests that the government comply fully with the High Court order in 2009 on sexual harassment to prevent these incidents.
It also recommends adopting strong and robust gender policy in the force as well as increasing the number of female members of the force so that they can feel safe.
However, a leader of the female police officials’ association rejected the findings of the study.
Vice President of Bangladesh Police Women Network (BPWN) Shamima Begum, deputy police commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said: “This statistic is not clear because there did not involved our thousands of female police personnel. It is not a fare statement. There are a few isolated incidents of of harassment or rape.”
She added: “Our workplace is safer for women than other workplaces. This type of statistics only serves to harm our morale.”
Human rights activist and lawyer Sara Hossain said this dismissive attitude amounted to falsehood.
“Sexual harassment in any force is a common phenomena, though it should not be. The wise thing to do is to acknowledge the truth and take measures to eradicate the humiliation of the female members of the force,” she said.
Credit: Dhaka Tribune Nawaz Farhin Published at 09:08 PM July 05, 2017
