Bangladesh and the introduction of capital punishment for rape: A solution to sexual violence or an inhumane act?
By Nikita Triandafillidis
“This week, the government of Bangladesh announced to implement the death penalty in rape cases after nationwide demonstrations broke out when footage of men attacking a woman emerged in social media.
The decision is seen as a form of justice for many women that cannot continue living in fear in a country that is characterized as a country of rapists. However, many international organizations see the decision with skepticism, questioning the morality of capital punishment”
The situation in Bangladesh
On Monday, the ministers of the Bangladeshi Cabinet decided to introduce an amendment to increase the punishment for rape cases, from a life sentence to the death penalty.
The decision came after nationwide protests broke out when the release of a video of a group of men assaulting a woman became widespread on Facebook and other various social media platforms.
The minister of law, Anisul Huq made a statement regarding the presidential declaration this Tuesday putting the provision into law:
“With this decision, we hope that the new measure would act as a deterrent and lead to a significant drop in rape cases”
The disturbing footage from the viral videos sparkled rage and frustration. Women from all social classes flooded the streets of Dhaka and other major cities in Bangladesh demanding justice.
The situation in Bangladesh right now is horrendous. Women have been constantly exposed to sexual violence and many women and women’s rights activists see the decisions as a welcome move to stop the endemic of rape cases in the country.
Can there be justice for the victims?
The latest incident of sexual violence against women adds up to the numerous cases that have failed to bring the attackers in front of the court to be punished.
Just a few weeks earlier, several members of the student wing of the current government party were arrested and charged with gang-raping a woman in a city in the north of the country. In January a student at Dhaka University was brutally raped.
The list, unfortunately, goes on and the recent statistics from various international organizations add fuel to the fire.
According to statistics from the human rights organization Ain-o-Salish Kendra, between January 2020 and September 2020, almost 1000 cases of rape were reported in Bangladesh, including 210 cases of gang-rape. The data shows that more than 40 women have died from these cases.
Thousands of women welcomed the new government amendment as they believe this is the only vital solution to stop the so-called rape culture that seems to flourish throughout the country.
“There is an increasing number of unreported cases because women are afraid to speak up. We are not safe anywhere, not even at our home. We cannot take this anymore” were the words of a woman protesting in Dhaka.
“We want to see the death penalty brought in immediately for the rapists. We want to change the situation, that is why we are protesting” were the words of a young university student.
Human rights activists go against the decision
Many international organizations, such as the Human Rights Watch, have criticized the decision the was made by the Bangladesh government, suggesting that capital punishment will not bring a vital solution to the issue.
“It’s a bad decision, not only because capital punishment is inherently inhumane and should be abolished, but because it is not a real solution to sexual violence. There is no evidence that it curbs any crime.” were the words of Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia Director of Human Rights Watch.
For many human rights activists, the real problem when it comes to Bangladesh is the corrupt and dysfunctional criminal justice system where women are unable to seek help due to fear of being stigmatized by society.
For many women in Bangladesh, access to medical and legal aid is not guaranteed and many women feel like they are abandoned by their own government which before the nationwide protests seemed to have a ridiculously low rate of conviction for rapists.
The opponents of the death penalty suggest looking into the bigger picture of the problem. For them, the death penalty will not solve things but create even more problems.
“It could end up deterring reporting or even encouraging rapists to murder their victims to reduce the likelihood of arrest.” Meenakshi Ganguly.
Throughout this week, millions of women and men demanded one simple thing from their government. Justice in the form of capital punishment.
The government listened to them and implemented the death penalty for rape cases. As of yesterday, 5 men were sentenced to death, under the new amendment law that passed on Tuesday.
Chief of police, Md. Rashidul Islam, in Dhaka, announced yesterday:
“Five convicts who gang-raped a madrasa girl have been awarded capital punishment two days after the amendment of rape law. This verdict issued after the enactment of the death penalty in rape cases will set an example for all offenders before committing any such heinous crime.”
The debate of whether or not, the death penalty for rapists will help women seek justice is still controversial and hard to answer.
We have to look at the bigger picture questioning ourselves if this is a vital solution. There have to be proper investigations and fair trials for such a serious matter and there is a possibility that emotions might overcome logic.
As an alternative to the death penalty, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, urged the Bangladesh government to adopt new efforts to improve women’s access to the judicial systems to seek real justice and reparations for the victims and to improve the criminal investigation system to properly prosecute the perpetrators.
However, the important thing is right now, for anyone to put himself or herself in the shoes of the women in Bangladesh.
Whether or not the death penalty is inhumane is not the issue here. The issue is, with countries like Bangladesh, India, or Pakistan, the mistreatment of women and the perspective that men have that women are inferior creatures, not even human beings, and that gives them the right to assault them in broad daylight and scar them for life.
The alternative solutions that human rights groups suggest sound utopic and not realistic.
How can the corrupted system that protects rapists change when women cannot even feel safe in their own house?
The UN for years has been living in its own world away from reality and this time women in Bangladesh had enough.
Maybe this decision will create more problems for women in the future but for now, in the short term, women can finally see a glimpse of justice in a country that is characterized as a country of rapists.
The real inhumanity comes, when women need to barricade themselves at home for fear of their life and even there they cannot feel safe with the institutionalized toxic and misogynistic concept of the patriarchy that treats women as inferior human beings. Maybe it is time for a change and only time will show if it is the right one.
