'Minority women' gang raped in Bangladesh in 2001-02
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Minority-women-gang-raped-in-Bangladesh-in-2001-02/articleshow/8089409.cms
IANS | Apr 26, 2011
DHAKA: A judicial commission has concluded that over 200 Hindu women
were raped following the 2001 parliamentary election, forcing many
terrorized families to flee the country.
The acts were allegedly committed by cadres of the Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP) and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami who won the 2001
polls, the report said, citing the involvement of many top leaders and
lawmakers of the alliance that is now in the opposition.
While the commission referred to the victims as "minority women",
media reports of that period had identified them as Hindus.
With Begum Khaleda Zia as the prime minister, the BNP-Jamaat alliance
ruled Bangladesh during 2001-06.
The violence went on for 15 months and "the barbarous act was intended
to force them to leave the country. They were, in the eyes of the
culprits, enemies as they voted for the Awami League", The Daily Star
said on Tuesday, quoting commission sources.
The commission submitted the report to home minister Sahara Khatun. It
lists 3,625 incidents of major crimes, including killing, rape, arson
and looting.
Media reports at that time had detailed the plight of hundreds of
Hindu families crossing over to India, forcing the Indian government
to express concern.
Bangladeshi poet Daud Hyder, who visited the camps in India where
these families were lodged and wrote about it, was later charged with
sedition and imprisoned.
The wave of violence was the subject of "Lajja" by novelist Taslima
Nasreen, who angered the Islamists at home and was had to quit
Bangladesh. She still remains exiled.
Many victims and their family members interviewed by the probe panel
narrated harrowing experiences, but said they did not lodge police
reports or undergo forensic tests for fear of inviting social stigma,
the report says.
Many victims and their family members across the country contacted the
commission when it was conducting the probe.
According to the panel, it would be "tough or, to some extent,
impossible" to continue the probe into the rape allegations "as the
victims themselves are unwilling to do the legal battle".
The probe panel found that most of the gang rapes occurred in the
country's southern part - Bhola, Barisal, Agoiljhara and Gaurnadi.
The accused were acquitted for lack of witnesses. In some cases,
police gave final reports while the names of the accused were dropped
in over 500 cases out of the 3,625 major incidents.
With the passing of a decade, some of the accused utilised "good
connection with ruling Awami League men", which forced the police to
drop many cases, the media report said.
The panel has named several BNP and Jamaat leaders for their
involvement in the post-poll violence.
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Also see
Pakistan terrorism since 1971: Bangladesh Rape Victims
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v7uppdmCsA
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