Once again we are tormented, petrified and disturbed by observing the kinds of brutality some people are actually rearing up inside. Nowadays whenever I open my facebook account, I feel ashamed of myself considering me as a part of such a society that has failed all of us as we have failed to save our girls from the clutch of some insensate polluted-minded culprits.

News reports of rapes are so common in our society and in fact, these incidents are some kind of popular stuff for daily newspapers in our country. Rape incidents fill the inner pages of almost all the newspapers every single day and these happenings are so frequent that people even forget the details and facts related to rape incidents the very next day.

To explain the scenario, according to Ain o Salish Kendra, a total of 632 rape incidents took place between April and August this year. Of late, the two rape incidents – one is Noakhali and the other one is MC College in Sylhet – have taken everyone aback.  As of now, different organizations and most importantly mass people (including students and citizens) are forming human chain demanding the arrest of the culprits. Protests have been pouring in from different corners and people from all walks of life expect exemplary punishment for those offenders. Analyzing all these perspectives it can be said that ordinary people of this country are performing their role in a well-organized manner.

Well, rape incidents are on the rise because of the impunity offered to the offenders. To be frank, the reminiscences of these criminal acts will apparently get faint in the memory of the people with the passage of time mainly because of the inactions of the concerned authorities. This is how the hooligans and morally corrupted people and the likes are escaping law and consequently, the ordinary people are hardly in a situation to see justice being done. There is an English maxim- ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’- that can be simply elucidated to mean that if the process of justice is lingered on deliberately, then there is every possibility that the victims will be deprived of proper justice. Though this phrase is old, its implication is still very relevant in our society. And the staggering number of rape incidentsare also pointing to that reality.

Last but not the least, the role of society in our country is also questionable considering the fact that this country is fostering a male-dominated society where female counterparts are seen merely as objects. Rape culture is so prevalent in this male-dominated society that this society (society comprises of people and people, males or men in a patriarchal society to be particular, determine how a particular society will behave) refuses to help victims and offers a cloak of deniability for those accused of rape. Instead our society continues in the complicity of turning a blind eye to serious allegations of violent criminal behaviour against women. Moreover fear of retaliation, bullying, shaming, etc., in the aftermath of a sexual assault oftentimes silences the victims, in effect leading to a secondary trauma in which they are unable to come forward with reporting the crimes.

I think time has come to bring about some changes in our mindset. As a society it’s time to break down the walls of stereotypes and stop setting double standards.

(The writer is a feminist.)