Of a warrior
Ravaged over and over, she fights on for justice
Courtesy Daily Star 8/3/10
They raped her daughter, ruined her husband's business and ravaged her face with acid but they couldn't silence her. In the face of overwhelming odds, Nasima Akhtar has steadfastly demanded one thing: justice. Armed with nothing but an iron will, Nasima has been waging a lonely war against influential opponents and an apathetic system, refusing to be silenced by the traditional taboos that say rape is too shameful for a woman to speak of. "Jiddi," her husband calls her -- "stubborn."
Nasima vividly remembers the night her daughter was attacked. It was barely a year after she and her husband Yousuf, a marine spare parts dealer, had moved to Cox's Bazar in search of a better future. That evening, Nasima had taken her five-year-old daughter Tumpa to the doctor, leaving 11-year-old mentally challenged Jhumur alone at home. With her husband away on business, Nasima had no alternative.
The round trip to the doctor's surgery took almost two hours. When Nasima returned, she saw a knot of people outside her door. "Fear gripped my heart," recalls Nasima. "My first thought was, 'Something has happened to my daughter!'"
Jhumur lay in a foetal position on the bed, crying her eyes out. The neighbours gathered round the bed and told Nasima what had happened. The electricity had gone out around 7.30pm when they heard a single scream from Jhumur.
"We tried to open the door but it was bolted from inside," said Nasima's neighbour Mariam, in a statement to police. "We called Jhumur but heard nothing. About half an hour later, the door opened and out walked Yousuf's business partner, Aziz. He walked away quickly, pressing the keypad on his mobile phone. We rushed inside and found Jhumur bleeding and barely conscious, her clothes in disarray."
The rape occurred on August 4, 2006. The next day Nasima lodged a case with Cox's Bazar Model Police Station. After investigating, the police filed a charge sheet implicating Aziz. The case went to trial a couple of months later.
But for Nasima and her family, the ordeal had just begun. Inexplicably, the alleged child molester Aziz was never arrested. "They are locals -- wealthy and influential," said Nasima. "We were from another district and were poor. We were no match for them."
Nasima was about to discover how prejudice, government inactivity and deficiencies in the criminal justice system throw up formidable obstacles for women who try to obtain justice following sexual offences. From the very beginning, Aziz's family pressured Nasima to withdraw the allegations. But when faced by a stream of threats, Nasima remained determined. "I want justice for my daughter," she said repeatedly. She was to pay a high price for her defiance.
September 1, 2008 is a date that will live with Nasima forever -- it is burnt into her memory and her face. She had gone to court with her sister and brother-in-law to testify in the case. Before she did so, the defendant's brother, Hakim, approached her with a settlement offer. He insisted that she talk to him privately, so Nasima accompanied him to a secluded corner of the court premises. Hakim gave Nasima a stark choice. Take some cash and drop the case -- or face vengeance.
"He had a wad of cash in his right hand," says Nasima. "When I refused, he took a bottle out of his left pocket and poured its contents over my body. I felt like I was on fire. I saw flesh melting before my eyes. I fell to the ground and screamed and screamed…"
Hakim was nabbed on the spot and turned over to the police. But astonishingly, he was soon back on the streets. The police found no case against him. In his final report, Inspector Mohiuddin, Officer-in-Charge of Cox's Bazar police station wrote, "It appears the plaintiff poured acid on herself in an attempt to frame the defendant, against whom she had a prior grievance…"
For Nasima, incarcerated in the burns unit of
Three long months and two operations later, Nasima was discharged from hospital. Her family had long ago fled Cox's Bazar and returned to their hometown in
"The acid destroyed the skin on my neck," laments Nasima. "I have trouble swallowing or talking. My breasts have almost melted away. I avoid looking in the mirror these days."
The story of Nasima's plight and her unrelenting courage in the face of adversity has drawn the attention of human rights campaigners. BRAC has come to her aid. Through the NGO's human rights and legal aid services programme, BRAC lawyers have given the family legal assistance -- help that the financially crippled Nasima desperately needs. The Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF), another NGO that campaigns against acid violence, helped pay for Nasima's surgery. BRAC and ASF both contributed to the cost of buying a dairy cow for the family.
Aside from the disfigurement, the psychological damage is enormous. It has taken months for Nasima to work up the courage to go outside. She keeps all the doors and windows locked, is terrified by unexpected callers and is frightened to make hot drinks because of the memories it revives. For months she couldn't bear to have a shower because the feeling of liquid moving across her body revolted her.
But she is determined not to give up. "I want others to learn from this and to refrain from committing these crimes. I believe that rape is a crime against the whole society, not just a crime against my mentally challenged daughter."
"My wife is strong-willed," says Yousuf. "There were times when I weakened and wanted to settle, but she wouldn't allow it. 'We want justice, not handouts', she kept saying."
Nasima's courage may be extraordinary, but the facts of the case -- the rape, the vengeful defendants, the cup of industrial-strength sulphuric acid -- are all too familiar in a country that sees upward of 150 acid attacks and 400 rapes every year.
Nasima wants to encourage other women to fight for justice. But she acknowledges that her own battle has been harder than she ever imagined.
"We are cowering in fear. My husband has lost his business and I have lost everything. Meanwhile the culprits are still going about their daily lives."
The details of how she lost her dreams, her identity and almost her life will stay with Nasima forever. While her attackers walk free, Nasima has nothing but her scars.
Some names have been changed to protect the privacy of victims.
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