Provost to nightguard: Different faces, same disregard for women
The widespread unrest at Chittagong University and adjacent villages where students and villagers clashed with each other for the better part of a day, had begun with a nightguard assaulting a female student who had returned to her mess, reportedly at 11:00pm. Upon finding the main entrance locked, the woman had to call out the guard who refused to let her in initially. Eventually when he did let her in, the guard allegedly assaulted the female student which led to a major clash between angry students and inhabitants of two villages -- Jobra and Fatehpur.
Just as soon as the Chittagong University campus calmed down there was a report from Rajshahi University that the provost of a women's hall, Lovely Nahar, put up a list of female students who returned to their halls after 11:00pm. Eventually, this list found its way to social media and went viral where people began to troll the female students. Amid protests, the notice asking the female students to meet the provost was withdrawn. But by then, the 91 students had already been stigmatised and bullied on social media.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. 
And earlier today, Dhaka University punished a student with a six-month suspension for threatening a fellow student with gang rape. One Ali Husen had threatened a female student, who is also a candidate for a student union post in the upcoming election. This woman had filed a writ petition against the candidacy of another aspirant citing that although currently belonging to Shibir (Jamaat-e-Islami's student wing) had once been a member of the now banned Chhatra League (Awami League's student wing).
Whether it is outright violence, or a threat of rape or simply shaming them with an official notice, the blatant disregard for women's dignity is obvious. What is more, the women are suffering this kind of indignity on their campuses or near their campuses where they were supposed to be safe and, more importantly, respected. Women are having to take to the streets in protest. They will probably have to demonstrate to see any legal action against Husen or that nightguard, if any at all.
One might have thought that the female provost would be the one to protest a curfew at the women's dormitory, when there is none for the men. It would have been more becoming for her to go to the authorities and urged them to make sure that the campus become safer for women instead of locking them up in the dorms to keep them safe. Instead, the provost turns out to be the enforcer of a discriminatory curfew that is more like a relic from the British era.
In essence there is no difference from Ali Husen to the nightguard to the provost. Not one is bothered with women's dignity, not one is concerned with their respect.
Comments