Opinion
Should We Help or Humiliate a Victim?
Following the despicable incident at TSC on New Year's eve involving the public molestation of a woman, I was puzzled to read an article titled "Condemnation by some women is intriguing" in the internet edition of The New Nation, 7th Jan., 2000. It amazes me that anyone should find the protest against the publication of the victim's disrobed photographs intriguing. In my opinion, the views and actions of those organizations that reacted against this irresponsible and insensitive act by the three newspapers are fully justified. It is every citizen's democratic right to protest against any publication they consider indecent or hurtful - provided, in this case, the burning is done in a safe manner and not at the cost of any innocent third party such as the newspaper vendor. As Ain-O-Salish-Kendra pointed out, the role of the police in Bangladesh has always been questionable; putting it mildly the institution is blemished with such acts as rape of women in custody, extortion and all forms of crimes and disorderly conduct.
As the eyes of a democratic nation, it is indeed the duty of independent media to report crimes and incidents as they occur. But newspapers also have an equal if not more of a moral obligation to treat people with the minimum dignity and respect - be they old, young, male, female, swadeshi or bideshi. The victim herself has complained, according to the report in the Daily Ittefaq (7th Jan., 2000), that by virtue of the publication of her unclothed pictures in national newspapers, she and her family would become social outcasts. The prime consideration should be the victim because if we fail her we fail our society. Would we have allowed one of our close relatives to be dragged through the proverbial mud and have her indecent pictures plastered in public if had she been the victim of that dreadful night? I think not.
Stripping of men and women in Bangladesh is unfortunately no longer an alien culture. As the media reported - Awami League goons stripped naked a male civil servant for defying their call of hartal when they were in opposition; recently a BNP female activist was stripped in public for participating in an anti-AL demonstration - and now this - again by the so-called associates of AL. This particular victim, however, had nothing to do with politics. She was a young woman trying to have a good time with her friends and be part of the global party, fun and festivities that night.
Therefore, I am more concerned about the dubious section of the media which indulged in indecency in the name of "action photography". The press photographers should however be praised for risking to take those photographs, but copies of those should have been handed to the victim, the court and the police in order to help prepare for an unbiased legal action against the goons. If identifying the molesters was the sole objective, then why were the pictures of the victim published in a way which only added insult to her injury? Why couldn't her face be hidden? In this day and age of advanced digital photo editing software at our fingertips this would have taken seconds. I would have expected the newspapers to exercise some degree of prudence and blacken out anything that exposes her body or identifies the victim.
Too much exposure of the molestation victim in newspapers unfortunately crossed the line between journalism and sensationalism. In the process, they rather became oblivious to the need of the dozens or even hundreds of similarly oppressed women; which again sends message to such victims that justice requires them to suffer further at the hands of the society at large. Victims must be prepared to be totally humiliated, even by our legal process, before they can be compensated. It is little wonder that with attitudes like these, crimes against women are hardly reported and eve teasing, public stripping and acid throwing have become the norm in Bangladesh.
The newspapers should have taken into consideration the profound psychological trauma it will have on the victim for the rest of her life.
I do not believe for a moment that publication of revealing photos of the victim - not the alleged culprits - was anymore beneficial at convincing a corrupt police force or lethargic Dhaka University authority in taking meaningful action against the goons for this primitive act. Here, for example, at Cornell - one of the top Ivy League Universities - there are hundreds of blue lamp-posts equipped with crisis phones scattered across the campus at a few hundred yard intervals to help would be victims from assaults. Merely picking up the receiver ensures a police vehicle on the spot within a few minutes.
Subsequently, Ithaca is a near zero crime city. Back while I did my Ph.D. at King's College, University of London, a male student was expelled from my hall of residence without hesitation for merely harassing a female student. These are just two examples of how western universities view crimes against women and to what expense and extent they are prepared to go to prevent it.
There is nothing intriguing about condemning those who humiliate a victim instead of helping. It is the moral obligation of every civilized citizen in a democratic country.
The writer is Visiting Scientist, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
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