17 July 2018, Tue, 12:55

592 raped in six months across Bangladesh

At least 592 incidents of rape were reported across the country in the last six months till June 30 this year.

Among the rape incidents, 98 women and children became victims of gang rape, 29 were killed after being raped and 61 others escaped attempted rape.

Besides, 65 women and children were sexually harassed during the period.
Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP), an organisation working for protecting women's rights, revealed the data in a report on Monday.

The report was prepared compiling news published in 14 dailies from January to June, said a press release.

According to the BMP, 2,063 women and children became victims of various types of violence, including rape, eve-teasing, physical torture for dowry demand etc.
At least 10 women and children became victims of acid attack (two of them died) and 45 others became victims of arson attacks (10 of them died) during the period, the report said, also adding that 77 were kidnapped and 13 were trafficked. Among the trafficked ones, four were sold to brothels.

The report also said, 268 women and children were killed for different reasons and murder attempts were made on 27 others. At least 13 domestic helps were victims of torture while three were killed and two others were forced to commit suicide. Some 113 women became victims of torture because of dowry and of them 51 were killed.

According to the report, 90 women were victims of teasing and 11 among them were forced to commit suicide. Another 154 were forced to commit suicide for different reasons, while nine more attempted to commit suicide and 15 were provoked to commit suicide.

At least 188 women and children died mysteriously and a total of 84 girls became victims of child marriage. On the other hand, a total of 171 women and children were physically harassed and seven others became victims of fatwa in the last six months.

Three women were allegedly tortured by police and 20 others were forcefully married off, while 68 incidents of different kinds of tortures also took place in the first six months of the year, according to the BMP report.