Staff Reporter :
About 63.4 percent female adolescents become victims of molestations in public transports because of absence of ethics and morality in the society and strong guard in the transports, says a survey report on Friday.
Of the victims, 46.5 percents women reported that they were sexually abused by the middle-aged men.
A voluntary organisation Achol Foundation conducted the survey over 805 women and girls aged between 13 and 35. The report was revealed on the online platform.
The data was collected through offline and online platforms. Girls and women from Azimpur, Mirpur, Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara, and Dhanmondi participated in the survey.
Of the participants, 69.07 percent are university-going students, 12.80 percent are college-going students and 4.22 percent are school-going students. Besides, 7.70 percent were working women and 4.35 were housewives.
About 33.2 percent participants reported that they spent three to four hours in the public transports while 32.5 said that they stay one to two hours, 24.7 percent one hour and 5.8 percent stay more than four hours in the public transports.
At least 69.44 percent participants use public transports to reach the educational institutions, work places and other areas while 6.58 percent use the transports of their respective organisations and 2.73 percent use their personal vehicles for movement.
Most of the participants about 84.10 percent use buses, 4.58 percent use trains, 1.53 percent use ride-sharing and 3.27 percent use CNG for their travelling.
Of the victims, 46.5 percent reported that they were sexually abused, 15.3 percent became the victims of bullying, 15.2 percent victims of social discriminations, 14.9 percent victims of gender discrimination and 8.2 percent victims of body shaming.
The organisation said that the molestations and harassments of women in public transports are really alarming and needs immediate steps to address the issue to protect the girls from such incidents.
Of the victims, 75 percent reported that they were abused by other passengers in the public transports while 20.4 percent were abused by the helpers or conductors.
The survey also revealed said that three percent women were victimised by the hawkers who sells their products inside the transports and 1.6 percent were abused by the drivers. Achol Foundation said that the general passengers act as the major factors to make the public transports unsafe. They found that the molesters were between the age of 40-59 years old men.
About 61.7 percent adolescents said that they were abused by the 40-59 aged old men while 36.3 percent said they were abused by the 13-39 years old male molesters.
The Foundation said, the molestations in the public transports are putting pressure on the mental health of the victims. Even the survey found that 21.2 percent adolescents were traumatised for such abuses.
Public transports have become a room of fear for at least 29.4 percent victims while 16.4 percent suffered from inferiority complex and 13.8 percent suffered from depression. About 57 percent victims reported that nobody stood beside them when they were abused in the public transports. Only 43 percent said that people came forward to assist them.
About 11.9 percent victims reported that they were fondled in the public transports while 30.8 percent said that the passengers stood by them though there were ample spaces and 14.2 percent said they became the victims of intentional pushing and 13.8 percent said they were verbally abused. The victims also said that the crowd of passengers was one of the major causes for molestations. About 32.8 percent were sexually abused in light crowd and 27.2 percent were sexually abused in heavy crowd. At least 11.3 percent women were molested at the time of getting up and getting down from the transports.
The survey said that the sexual harassment is increasing in public transports for taking excessive passengers against the seats. Though there is an emergency help line 999 to get immediate support in the case of sexual harassment in the public transports, only 2.5 percent women used the emergency number.
Even after the molestations, 34.8 percent women remained silent instead of protesting the molesters. About 20.4 percent victims said that they avoided the transports to use for the next time of travelling.
The survey said that if the women are not vocal such incidents may increase. The survey also finds that the co-passengers sometimes took the sides of the molesters, which is really unfortunate.
About 36.9 percent victims said that when they were victimised, other passengers ignored it while two percent said the co-passengers supported the molesters.
At least 97.6 percent women suggested that there should have special buses for the women as the number of working women are increasing in the capital while 94 percent said that the public transports should increase reserved seats for them.
Dr Md Ismail Hossian, professor of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology said, “We need social movement to resist such incidents. Legal action should also be taken. This survey has revealed the social discrimination against women. The patriarchal attitude should also be changed to protect women.”
Achol suggested that CCTV should be installed in the public transports, the identity of the helpers, supervisors and drives should be visible, separate transports and reserved seats for women should be increased and speedy legal action is necessary to curb it.
