Bangladesh: Using Blogging to Expose ‘Eve Teasing'

This post was written in Bangla by Bijoy and was translated for Global Voices Online by Rezwan

Eve teasing(sexual harassment of women) is one of the major problems in Bangladesh which many women face everyday. This social problem exists everywhere be it in rural or in urban areas. One of the main reasons of girls being married off at an early age or them dropping out of school is “eve teasing”. Many times these incidents lead to violence and even deaths. There had been instances of parents or siblings giving their lives to stop “eve teasing”.
Strict laws and regulations cannot deter these incidents from happening. Sometimes the harassers get away because of the silence of the society. Recently in the capital Dhaka, a blogger has taken a strong stance against the perpetrators of an “eve teasing” incident and he asked the help of other bloggers to unmask the identity of these violators.

On 11 May, 2012, Sorbonasha, an anonymous blogger, wrote a post titled ‘At this moment I am seeking help of thousands of bloggers from somewhereinblog.net (blogging platform) … right now‘[bn].

Then he described an “eve teasing” incident:

I was standing on road 5/A of Dhanmondi, on the main road opposite Medinova (medical center). It was almost 9:50PM at night. Suddenly I saw some young lad walking towards the Star Kabab and Restaurant. There One girl was trying to hire a CNG Autorickshaw. The boys were younger than that girl, however, one of them slipped his hand on to her tops and pulled her pant down from behind… then they continued walking laughing. In a state of sudden shock, the girl stood perplexed, harassed, she did not have anything to say in shame.

Then he described how he fought for her [bn]:

I could not tolerate it anymore. I ran towards the boys and protested. They immediately attacked me. I was greeted with punches, kicks and slaps. I called for help and they identified themselves as the students of University of Liberal Arts Of Bangladesh (ULAB). They tried to pull me towards their campus. The girl now was in tears trying to help me and was crying for help. Many people had gathered by then. When they asked I described what happened with her

However the blogger was surprised to see that many were advocating for the perpetrators instead of the victims [bn]:

I noticed that the students of ULAB, the cigarette sellers, the chauffeurs of some students were advocating for the boys. They were trying to say that perhaps they had done a mistake, ut I should not exaggerate it as these can happen. Some also advised me to leave the place immediately without causing much trouble. I noticed a large section of people standing there silent, watching inactively. Let alone defending me, nobody was even protesting the incident.

But the blogger did not stop there. After reaching home he wrote a blogpost trying to identify those boys. He proposed some steps including a blogger's meeting. In his post he asked the netizens to help him expose the real identity of those involved in that harassment.
The post was widely read (43,839 times at the time of writing the post) and many people commented on it (1062 comments).

Shafiul Alam [bn] commented that he will be able to help in finding their identity.

I could say many thing, but cannot because of some problems. I know many people of that area and have contacts in ULAB. If those boys are students of that institution, I think I will be able to find out.

Nostalgic [bn] is angry to learn about this incident. But he is hopeful seeing the protest of the blogger:

I felt awful reading it. I admire your courage. We have not all become passive bystanders. Still there are people like you who stand alone from the crowd trying to protest.

Birendra [bn] tells why these criminals should be punished:

This shows degradation of morals in the society. Many many thanks to you for your protest. If these people are punished we can expect a decrease in such crimes.

Sajid[bn] commented that these kinds of problems can be solved through everybody's help:

Salute to you. Nobody can do it alone if people do not rise.

Ashikur Rahman Amit[bn] was angry to see bystanders doing nothing:

Where have our morals gone? I feels ashamed to express even my hatred towards those animals of ULAB. I condemn those who did not come forward to protest.

Noman Mir [bn] lauded the courage of the anonymous blogger:

I salute your humanity and courage. You should not stop and should go forward. We are with you.

Kangal Murshid[bn] has expressed his support in this initiative from afar. He also expresses his concerns:

I cant thank you much – I support you in all your steps. I live in Chittagong, so I cannot join you in person. Please go forward, people with conscience will be with you. But one small request, dont let this turn into a political issue.

The blogger did not limit this campaign online, he called [bn] a meeting offline to help in this cause.

I call every blogger, online activist and anyone interested in this cause to a bloggers meeting:
Proposed date: 13th of May 2012
Proposed Time: 08:15 PM
Proposed venue: TSC square, Dhaka University

Many expressed interest to be in that meeting. The ULAB authority also posted a comment on the blog [bn]:

The ULAB authority took notice of the incident cited in your blog which indicates that some students of this institution was involved. It happened near to the campus and we regret and condemn such incident. We express our wholehearted compassion and sympathy for the victims. This is really unfortunate that in our society our mothers and sisters are not safe from these sadists. As an institute for higher education the ULAB administration always takes a firm stand against such crimes.

In the statement the institution expressed their support in the investigation [bn].

ULAB has started their own investigation on this. We have already tried to contact the anonymous blogger with the help of Somewhereinblog authorities. To expedite the investigation and ensure accuracy we would request him to contact us directly. We express our full support for the victims.

Many commented on this statement and some did not support this kind of internal investigation
Headsir[bn] says:

Everything is ok. Where is the guarantee that the investigation committee will reveal the truth? To keep the goodwill of the institution untainted they will try to bury this incident.

Konad [bn] says:

If we let the investigation the hands of the ULAB administration then the real criminals will never be exposed. And all perpetrators may not be from this institution. So we have to keep our search efforts running.

But many praised the stance of the ULAB authorities:

Zia Chowdhury [bn] said:

I congratulate the ULAB administration. Now the students of the Institution should come forward to expose these culprits.

After the first statement the ULAB administration posted an update on the steps taken by them.
While some commented in the blog post that the anonymous blogger reacted dramatically, most of them did not negate the incident as it sadly happens in Bangladesh.

The bloggers meeting, ULAB's statement, and the subsequent discussion of the bloggers with the administration involved common concern of how to nab the perpetrators. But after all these the boys are still to be identified. Nonetheless, one blogger raised his voice against one crime and thousand voices echoed to support him.