Monday, May 18, 2009

Bangladesh's First Harassment Case?

Today I read about the epic court decision overturning a previous decision where victims of a sexual harassment case by a professor at Jahannigar University were expelled from their school and the perpetrator was fully exonerated. Yet today the court decided that the previous decision was erroneous, summoned a new investigation into evidence of wrongdoing by the University.

A couple of years ago, a few female students from said University filed a sexual harassment case  against one of their professors. However, their search for justice was thwarted by the overwhelming social sympathy for the male figure. In other words, the legal system penalized the female victims for voicing the misconduct of their professor, while rewarding and condoning the professor's inappropriate behavior by pardoning him. 

This legal case clearly delineats the patriarchal society which we still inhabit. Men get away doing worse things, while females are hindered and censured for standing up for themselves and highlighting the fallacies of their male counterparts. But, perhaps, with the overturning of the previous court's decision and the new inquiry into the University's actions and the victims' case can be used to crack the patriarchal ceiling. 

Females, especially victims, need a secure and safe platform to speak out against their perpetrators. The perpetrators of crimes must be taken to court and lawfully tried in order to thwart future smilar accidents occuring, and display the supreme fact that justice is indeed blind, and perpetrators must pay for their crimes. 

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