According to Susan Brownmiller, rape is a conscious intimidation tactic used by men to keep women in fear. She reframes rape as an act of power and mass terrorism, rather than an expression of male lust. In the case of the Hindus in Bangladesh we can say that rape is an instrument of persecution of the Hindus. In 1947 rape was used as a weapon of oppression against Hindus. Similarly, in 1971, rape was used as a means to oppress Bengali women, specially Bengali Hindus women to keep them from fighting the battle of independence.
“On October 1, 2001, the day of the ninth parliamentary election, Purnima Rani Shil (13) along with her friends went to Purbo Delua High School in Ullahpara, Shirajgonj to their private tutor. They didn’t know that the teacher was working that day as a polling agent of Awami League. On seeing them, he told them to sit in the polling room while he leſt for a bit. “We waited there for so long, but he didn’t come back. By this me, people coming in to vote thought we were polling agents of the political party, Awami League,” says Purnima.
A week aſter the incident, on the evening of October 8, she says around 60-80 people came to their house and started beating up Purnima and her family members. At one point, they took her to a nearby crematorium. The neighbors were standing on the streets with kerosene lamps, but nobody comes forward to save her. “They pinched me, took away my clothes and ed my face with a hand knit towel (gamcha). I knew their voice; I could see their face in the light of their torch. Then, two of them took me to a nearby empty field and raped me one aſter another when l I lost my consciousness,” she recalls.
Source: The Daily Star, February 01, 2019
