THE way the police have relied on violence to disperse an anti-rape march towards the residence of the chief adviser demanding a more decisive role in ending violence against women is a shocking reminder of the role that the police played during the July uprising. The anti-rape march was one of many protests taking place over the rape of a child in Magura, fighting for life in a hospital in Dhaka. On March 11, as the protesters reached the crossing beside the InterContinental Hotel, the police charged with truncheons, leaving at least 21 people, including a few police personnel, injured. The protesters pressed home their nine-point demand, including the removal of the home adviser for his failure to ensure women鈥檚 safety, the establishment of a speedy tribunal for rape cases and logical reforms in rape and sexual harassment laws. Protesters allege that the police not only attacked but also grabbed women by the hair and kicked and punched them in the face. Some photographs of police violence substantiate the claims. The police may need to disperse marches for law and order and there may be hostile elements within the protests, but that does not justify the police action.
Anti-rape protesters have been organising for a morally and politically just cause for several weeks. Since the interim government assumed office in August 2024, among the incidents that gained public attention are the assault on sex workers in Dhaka, attacks on woman tourists in Cox鈥檚 Bazar, violence over a girl鈥檚 football match in Jaipurhat and the harassment of two young women over smoking in public. The government has recently made a few arrests in the cases, but only after nationwide protests criticising its failure to recognise the surge in anti-women, right-wing activism. It is also concerning that the police played the role of spectators when an organised 鈥榤ob鈥� held a sit-in programme at a police station to free a person accused of harassing a Dhaka University student from police custody but chose violence to disperse anti-rape protesters. Similar high-handedness was also witnessed against recommended primary schoolteachers in February. The high-handedness, therefore, suggests a certain bias on part of the police force and further contributes to their anti-people image.
The recurring incident of violent policing of protests in the changed political context, when police reforms are said to be a priority of the interim government, is deeply disappointing. The interim government should, therefore, initiate an investigation to identify how matters of pacifying peaceful protests turned into a targeted attack against certain protesters. In the long run, the government should ensure that a protocol to disperse crowds is in place and thoroughly followed.
