Jumbangla Desk: Aparajita Sangeeta, a young filmmaker and women's rights activist, still cannot forget the unpleasant experience she had to face at Dhaka's Panthpath intersection a week ago.

She was waiting in the car for the signal at the junction when an elderly man dressed without a veil started abusing her. But he did not stop doing this. At one point, Aparajita broke the window of the car and the man became even more angry. He started spitting on the car window as he turned on the mobile phone camera to capture the video of the incident.

Talking about the incident, Aparajita said that the man was so aggressive that he seemed to break the window of the car.

'I could never imagine facing such a situation just because I don't have a veil. That too sitting in my own car. It seemed as if the man had spat in my face.'

After that Aparajita got down from the car and washed his face.

For quite some time, many women have been posting on social media about facing harassment on the streets. He said that since the change of pot in the country on August 5, such incidents have increased greatly.

Rights activists say that due to the low presence of police on the streets, a class of people are committing these crimes without fear. Women are easy targets for them.

Not only in the capital but also from different parts of the country, women are highlighting the incidents of harassment in the same manner. Blocking the movement of women directly, making rude comments and even in some cases physical and sexual harassment are happening.

Last month, the country's prominent mountaineer Shayla Beethi was physically assaulted by a group of men in broad daylight while crossing a footover bridge in Dhanmondi. He was also injured in the attack.

Two women were beaten and harassed at Cox's Bazar beach in the middle of last month. Some videos of these incidents spread on Facebook.

In the same way, there are incidents of attacks on sex workers in different areas of Dhaka.

Senior journalist nurse Debnath told how she was harassed on the road in the last two months. Most of the time he had to hear dirty talk about his clothes and family.

Recently he was forced to protest in a similar incident with another elderly man. Later the situation escalated to such an extent that he became apprehensive about his safety. On the contrary, the people gathered around did not attack him, and there was also fear.

Another senior journalist Jharna Roy said that she had to face harassment while eating with her family at a street food shop for not wearing hijab.

Women like Sangeeta and Jharna are also losing the courage to protest amid increasing discriminatory behavior of a class of men towards women on the streets. Because if they protest, it is far from getting the support of the people around them, but they are now afraid of being attacked.

Filmmaker Sangeeta said, I have always protested in such cases. My movies always talk about women's freedom. But that day I could not protest. I was afraid that people around me might not believe me because of his age.

Women are reporting on social media that incidents of harassment in various ways including harsh comments thrown from afar, disrespectful words are increasing. A woman said that she had to fall into an undesirable situation for wearing tip on her forehead. Another person said that he was harassed for not wearing a burqa while interviewing for a job. Many others reported the experience of hearing gossip while on the road.

Khushi Kabir, a women's rights activist and co-ordinator of Swamira Kari, has questioned why the situation has not improved despite giving magisterial powers to army officials to improve the law and order situation.

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He said, "I don't understand why the advisors of the government are not speaking publicly condemning these incidents." The government's silence on the number of incidents is unacceptable.

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Shaheen Anam, executive director of the Foundation for Humanity, said that due to impunity, the ultra-conservative groups of the country are getting the courage to do these things. Hate against women is being spread online as a result of not taking action against those involved in harassment of women.

Source: Daily Star