Abstract:
Abstract: In Bangladesh, the ratio of the number of women is much higher
than the number of men. The Government has enacted various laws which
are especially for women and the penalties which have been incorporated
under the laws are also severe. But the rate of victimization is increasing
day by day due to lack of proper application of laws and adequate
monitoring of the concerned authorities. It is a matter of great concern that
most of the occurrences of victimization of women begin at home by their
family members or intimate partners and extends to the society afterwards.
Women are victimized by different crimes especially sexual abuse, physical
assault, mental harassment, persecution, violation of conjugal rights and
violation of personal rights i.e. non-payment of dowry, maintenance etc.
These are here considered as social crime because of anti-social nature and
place of occurrence. The offences are also punishable under different social
legislations. As the offences are criminal in nature, and sometimes these are
considered also as civil wrongs, both the penalty and compensation could
be inflicted by ensuring legal safeguard. In this study, various cases have
been analyzed as enlisted in Victim Support Center (VSC) guided by Dhaka
Metropolitan Police (DMP). Each of the cases was analyzed in social crime
perspective for identifying the causes of victimization with proper
recommendations. Finally, it has been observed that there are a lot of laws
for protecting the rights of the victimized women, but the outcome level is
not satisfactory.
This paper identifies and analyses the causes for the victimization with a
way of solution in reducing the rate of victimization by ensuring legal
safeguards in the context of social crime in Bangladesh. It reveals that the
number of victimized women from rural area is greater than urban region.
It explores that the primary reasons of victimization are dowry, illiteracy,
lack of economic independence and income, child marriage and lack of
security for women. It also maintains that the consequences of victimization
are significantly higher than the other crimes as it causes physical
disability, psychological disorder, financial insolvency, emotional disorder
and social condemnation that make a negative impact on rest of the life of
the victims and their family members simultaneously.
