CCTV in Women's World raise safety concerns
Following a complaint on Tuesday, Dhanmondi police raided Women's World, a beauty parlour, on Satmasjid Road and seized eight cameras from their spa and changing rooms and digital video recorders (DVRs) containing the footage of last three months.
According to Dhanmondi Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Parvez Islam, after the raid, Sub-Inspector Ekramul Haque filed a case under section 4 of the Pornography Control Act, 2012, against five -- employees Emdadul Hasan, 53, Taslim Arif Ilyas, 52, and HM Jewel Khandkar, 33, and owner Taslima Chowdhury Kona Alam, 57, along with her daughter Farnaz Alam, 32.
On Wednesday, police arrested three employees and produced them before a court, which sent them to jail, he said.
The owners, however, went into hiding, he added.
The incident has left women shocked and concerned about their safety. Many questioned how a well-known parlour could breach the privacy of its patrons.
In an interview with The Daily Star, a 36-year-old service holder, Papia Islam* said that she availed services from that branch several times.
"The last time I got a facial done from there, for which, I had to use the changing room to put on a tunic provided by them," she said.
"Now I'm scared and shocked because I never thought that I could be filmed. It's a violation of my privacy," she added.
News personality Israt Amin conveyed her views through a video message terming the incident a "digital crime".
"Here, the victim is not only the one who complained, but those who availed the services in the past three months," she said.
"We demand exemplary punishment for the accused so that other parlours think twice before committing such crimes."
Tanisha Tabassum*, a chartered accountant, said the cameras in such places imply that the footage is under scrutiny by the employees.
"It is disheartening to think that I can be filmed and observed by others while availing services at the salon. And even if they don't have bad intentions or claim that it was done to prevent theft, cameras should be positioned at entrances and areas where customers and staff interact. Placing cameras at the spa and changing room is completely unacceptable," she said.
A social media user KN Akhi said, "We don't know what they're doing with the footage. Now, the footage is in the hands of police, and that is also a breach of privacy."
Women's rights activist Khushi Kabir, also coordinator of Nijera Kori, deemed the use of CCTV cameras in such private spaces "unacceptable and unethical".
"We now see that in many places, video footage is being misused in many ways. Whoever is monitoring and have access, can misuse them easily," she said.
She emphasised the need to exclude CCTV cameras in places like doctor's chambers, changing rooms of shops, swimming pools, and parlours where privacy is paramount.
Bangladesh Mahila Parishad President Fauzia Moslem echoed the same and said the perpetrators must be brought to justice.
"Even though the beauty salon industry provides women with a significant scope for entrepreneurship, we need a strong system to make sure that no one can harm women's privacy," she said.
Earlier in 2011, the well-known beauty salon Persona faced widespread criticised for placing CCTV cameras in its Banani branch's changing room.
Following that, the High Court directed the removal of CCTV cameras from the service rooms of all beauty parlours across the country.
(*Names have been changed to protect identity)
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