Study: 80% of Married Men are Victims of Abuse in Bangladesh
About 80 percent of married men in the Bangladeshi society are victims of torture and abuse, according to the Bangladesh Men’s Rights Foundation. According to the statistics of the organization, in the last nine years, 4,268 men have been victims of torture across the country and 2,328 men in Narayanganj district. But the actual number of male abuse cases is much higher.
Bangladesh Men’s Rights Foundation (BMRF) Chairman Sheikh Khairul Alam Sohel said this on Tuesday (November 19th) on the occasion of International Men’s Day.
According to the Bangladesh Men’s Rights Foundation, 1,067 men have been reported victims of torture and abuse across Bangladesh till October this year. Earlier, 1049 men were victims of violence in 2023, 792 in 2022, 450 in 2021, 330 in 2020, 240 in 2019, 170 in 2018, 120 in 2017 and 50 in 2016. As a result, 4,268 men have been victims of torture in the last nine years. However, the actual number is much higher, the agency claimed.
According to the Bangladesh Men’s Rights Foundation, 647 men have been reported victims of torture in Narayanganj district till October this year. Earlier, 632 men were victims of violence in 2023, 397 in 2022, 212 in 2021, 153 in 2020, 117 in 2019, 82 in 2018, 65 in 2017 and 23 in 2016. According to this estimate, 2,328 men have been victims of torture in the last nine years.
Sheikh Khairul Alam Sohel told Kalbela, “Our organization is working to prevent men’s rights and torture. According to the survey of our organization, more than one thousand men were tortured in the last few years across the country and more than 6-7 hundred men in Narayanganj district. Married men are the most abused. About 80 percent of married men across the country are victims of mental abuse. But in reality, the number of victims of torture is several times more. Many men do not want to talk about these for fear of public shame and being humiliated in society. We have been working to prevent torture, including providing legal assistance to the victims.
Mentioning that male repression is increasing due to the misuse of law, he said that although there is a law against women, there is no male repression law. As a result, the Violence Against Women Act is being misused. Many men are being tortured and harassed through false cases. Many men are unable to bear this torture and are choosing the path of suicide. But many people can not say it for fear of public shame and loss of honor. Many people are coming to our organization with such allegations. But they don’t want to talk about it publicly.
Mentioning that many laws have been made giving priority to women, he said many monopoly laws have been made giving priority to women. For example, according to section 497 of the Penal Code, if the wife of one person is addicted to an extramarital affair with another person, the woman is free from liability and the man will be fined five years in jail. Both are equally guilty, but men are punished. That’s why we want equality. So that whoever the culprit is, he should be punished. Apart from this, the incident of forcing a large amount of Denmohar in marriage and later creating turmoil in the family and filing a case is happening frequently. If a woman is addicted to alienation, she makes various false cases against her husband, including torture of women. They even physically abuse men. Telling these things to the police does not get any solution, but men have to be laughed at. But if a woman complains about this, the police immediately take action in her favor. That’s why I’ve been demanding a male violence prevention law.
He was jailed after being falsely implicated by his wife. In this context, he said, “Although I got married in 2015, my wife did not agree to go to my house. About three months after marriage, when I pressed about this, my wife filed a false case of dowry against me. But all the locals called it a false case. But the court did not listen to that. I finally had to go to jail. Later, when I came out on bail, a case of women repression was filed against me again. However, the police did not find the truth of torture in the investigation of the case. Yet I was harassed. I have a warrant against me. Then I realized that thousands of men like me have been harassed in this way. As a result, on February 3, 2016, I started the movement to prevent male repression. Finally, I settled the case by paying double the money of the marriage cabin.
However, Advocate Hasina Parvin, a central member of the Mahila Parishad and vice-president of Narayanganj district, told Kalbela that women are being tortured more than men in our society. Cybercrime is especially high. That’s why the law is now in favor of women. However, some unscrupulous women are misusing the law. However, this number is much lower. We also want the real culprits to be punished. I think women as well as men need to get their rights.
Public Prosecutor (PP) of the District and Sessions Judge Court. Abul Kalam Azad Zakir told Kalbela that most of the cases that are filed in our country centered on dowry are mainly filed for some other reason. In that case, the cases are misapplied. As most of the countries of the Indian subcontinent are patriarchal, women were victims of torture in the past. As a result, various laws including violence against women have been enacted to protect women. Now many women are misusing those cases with false cases. It turned out that many husbands and wives fought over pulling mosquito nets. With this, the woman has filed a case of torture. As a result, it is being misused. But the law is equal for all.
