MEDIA-BANGLADESH: BBC Report on Rape Of Briton Creates Furore

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Tabibul Islam

DHAKA, Mar 30 1999 (IPS) - The reported rape of a British national by four police men here has touched off a bitter row between the Bangladesh government and the British High Commission over the authenticity of the incident.

The government has denied the incident and slammed the circular issued by the British mission here warning Britons who live alone not to go to police stations unescorted, broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Mar. 17.

According to the High Commission, Jeoffrey Fairhurst, head of the immigration and consular section, wrote to the Bangladesh inspector general of police in December last year about the rape by policemen in the capital city.

So far there has been no response from the police, the BBC reported.

The un-named British woman left Bangladesh immediately after the incident and has no intention of coming back again, an official of the British High Commission here said.

Police officials have been giving contradictory and conflicting versions of the rape incident. Some senior officials flatly denied the incident, while some others said the matter was under investigation.

Bangladesh Home Minister Mohammad Nasim on Mar. 21 described the BBC report as concocted and said it was done to tarnish the image of his democratic government and put the public’s backs up against the law enforcing agencies.

Talking to reporters, he said the report was neither factual nor even handed as the agency did it unilaterally without verifying with the concerned authorities.

“The report did not name the British woman or the oppressors,” he said, adding that he regretted the High Commission had not followed normal diplomatic procedure of informing the host foreign office of the incident.

The home minister blamed “vested interests” for seeking to sabotage the government’s efforts to build up confidence among people in the law enforcing agencies. He said that in the past the BBC has broadcast misleading reports about Bangladesh.

Immediately after the home minister’s reaction, the British High Commission issued a statement confirming the rape incident in a police station when the British national had tone to report a theft.

The woman had left Bangladesh and wanted to remain anonymous and there was no way to lodge a formal complaint on her behalf, the statement added.

The Dhaka office of the BBC is also standing by its report and said they filed the story only after they got the copy of the circular issued by the High Commission in Dhaka warning women.

As charges and counter-charges were traded in Dhaka, the British High Commissioner David C. Walker and Home Minister Nasim discussed the rape incident for the first time on Mar. 24.

The high commissioner reportedly informed the home minister that the identity of the woman has been kept secret even from the High Commission on her request. The inspector general of police, the minister said, did not receive the complaint from the High Commission.

Nasim said an investigation that was ordered could not proceed because the High Commission has not given the name of the victim, or the place and time she was sexually assaulted.

Talking to the press after this meeting, the home minister blasted the BBC for the second time in a week saying, “I still believe that the incident was broadcast by BBC purposely – with a motive.”

Minister Nasim said he would be writing to the BBC head office in London to take action against their team in Dhaka responsible for broadcasting an “imaginary and baseless news”.

The BBC report has brought to the surface the issue of abuse of power and corruption in the ranks of the police. “Police have not been able to establish a clean image in the eyes of the public. They are looked upon more as predators than protectors,” said a lawyer, who naturally did not want to be named.

Petty crime is rarely reported to the police, because it means more trouble, harassment and fear for the person filing the complaint. In 1998, more than 16,000 police personnel were punished on various charges, according to the Home Ministry.

Rights organisations said 16 women were sexually assaulted in

police custody in 1998, more than 13 in 1996 and an alarming 30 in 1995.

‘Inqilab’, a Dhaka-based Bangla-language newspaper said 86 persons were killed in police custody in the last 36 months. The murder of Rubel, a university student, in police custody last year triggered a wave of protest all over Bangladesh.

Since it is the victims who have to prove they were violated in court, the majority of rapists walk away free because of the lack of witnesses, according to a survey by the National Institute of Mental Health.

“Police have a feeling that they are the rulers of the country and they are not accountable to any body,” a human rights activist said.