The marginalised minorities in general in Bangladesh has been persecuted for generations and they have been the victims of violent crimes such as rape and murder. These women are disappearing rapidly and we need to do something to protect them now. 

‘Missing’ Women on the Census

Hindu law in Bangladesh, does not provide right to property to women. These women are treated badly and are severely malnourished. They die and disappear from census. Given these women are minorities and economically marginalised, they lack resources where they can turn to for help and, are socially stigmatised when they try to do so. Many if not most Hindu marriages are not registered legally and based on the practice of the archaic laws, they do not have the right to divorce. Men engage in polygamy and leave their first weds without providing any support. These women do not qualify for any support under religious laws (that have been reformed in all countries practising Hindu laws including India but not Bangladesh) and cannot even divorce because the existing laws will not allow them to do so. In most cases, they end up becoming estranged wives who are not accepted by the husbands and now taken back by the family because they become an economic burden. If women belonging to marginalised communities want to pursue education, they are not supported as they are meant to be married off. There are also practices of dowry, domestic abuse and marital rape which are not even considered.

 Women in the Context of Ethnic Cleansing in Bangladesh

For the last 45 years, marginalised minorities have declining in Bangladesh. After the partition of India in 1947, Bangladeshi minorities have experienced a systematic ethnic cleansing that has dropped their population from 23% in 1951 to 9% in 2017. The current Hindu population is about 13 million. There are frequent cases of looting and burning of households, destruction of temples and religious idols, murder, rape, forced religious conversion, illegal occupation of property, extortion, threats to family structures and other soft and hard intimidations are reducing well-to-do households to paupers and forcing this population across the border to India. With the recent rise of political and militant Islam, marginalised minorities have been the most vulnerable than ever. As a result of this, women have become the most vulnerable victims.

 Rape and Forced Conversion

Rape is used as a tool against marginalised minority women. Recently, a nine-year old Purna Tripura has been the victim of rape while returning from school by Bengali men in an area that is predominantly an indigenous habitat. A judicial commission determined that over 200 Hindu women were raped following the 2001 parliamentary election. Rape and other sexual violations of minor girls belonging to the Hindu community, mainly in rural areas, remain widespread. Considering the social fabric of the Bangladeshi society, when a girl is raped in a village, the family is left with no choice but to migrate to India. There is also forced conversion and land-grabbing. The existing Hindu law is archaic in the country and is a genuine legal barrier as Hindu women do not have the inherit property from the father or the husband, leaves them particularly vulnerable to the system. This make is much easier for men to oust women from their property as they do not have the legal right or claim to it.

 Chittagong Hill Tracts

The Peace Accord of the Chittagong Hill Tracts was signed in 1997 but has not been implemented. The indigenous people of the Hill Tracts who comprised almost 100% of the population in the region before 1947 are currently a minority in their own lands. There has been action to establish the rights of the new settlers and the military over the ancestral lands of the Hill Tracts people has removed the term “indigenous” when referring to the ethnic minority communities. To date, in-migration by these newcomers and the forcible occupation of the lands of tribal people result in acts of violence. The turmoil against the indigenous people in Longdu, Rangamati in 2017 is one such example. There has also been a famine in Sajek where some of us privately fundraised to provide basic food and medication to the village as there was a lack of support provided by the authorities. Rape and abduction by non-indigenous settlers are very common which are not reported properly and do not receive media attention.  

There is a need for the State to eliminate the culture of impunity in terms of the attacks on the religious and ethnic minorities to improve the lives of the religious and ethnic minority communities including Hindu, Buddhists, Christians, Tribal, and indigenous people all over the country. There is a need to protect these disappearing women.

Help us now and help these women!