Acknowledge the Evil

No matter how apathetic the larger part of our society is about violence against women, very few citizens of this country (except of course pedophiles who commit the crimes) will not be disgusted and horrified when little children are sexually abused and tortured. The recent brutal rape of a five-year-old that left her hospitalised and mentally traumatised has given us a glimpse of the beasts that live among us. Here are some more statistics from a Daily Star report that will curdle your blood. One of the four little girls admitted to the One Stop Crisis Centre (OCC) is a two and a half toddler, a baby who has probably just started talking. She was molested by a college student who lives in the same building as hers. The other sexually molested patients are four, seven and thirteen. What kind of monsters are they, you may ask, who find sexual gratification in molesting infants and children?

The answer is simple but hard for our hypocritical, conservative society to accept. Pedophilia is alive and kicking in Bangladesh. In October the DMCH's crisis centre recorded as many as 25 children who had been raped. The victims are often too young to protest or even understand the abuse inflicted on them. All too often the abuser is someone known to the child – an uncle, a neighbour, an older cousin, a religion teacher, a caregiver. And all too often these pedophiles get away with their grotesque crime because of a myriad of reasons – they hold positions of power, the family wants to protect the reputation of the little girl, intimidation from the perpetrator, the victim's family is poor and powerless and will agree to some monetary 'compensation' in exchange of silence. Or it could simply be that parents or guardians are in denial and just do not want to believe that someone in their own family can commit such an act. People in the community, moreover, prefer not to rock the boat and would rather look the other way than accuse a grown up of position, of being a perverted criminal.

While the law awards the most stringent punishments for rape, especially of a minor, the long drawn out trial process, not to mention the negative publicity the victim and the family must confront, acts as deterrents for cases to be filed.

It is time for us to wake up. We must make our children aware of the dangers of child abuse and encourage them to talk about it when anything of the sort happens to them, no matter who the abuser is. Schools have to be more vigilant about perpetrators within the school community so that students are confident enough to be able to complain and the administration must act upon the complaint. There should be massive campaigns and discussions on child abuse through the electronic, print and social media. As members of a community we must be more interested in each other so that we are aware when a child is abused next door and are courageous enough to stop it. Most of all we must stop being in denial and accept the fact that even the most safest environment a child is in, there may be a sexual predator lurking in the corner.