Women harassed online in Bangladesh

Description

The humiliation a several women have faced online is emerging as a big social problem in Bangladesh. The number of such incident is increasing day by day. This growing menace has added a new dimension to the already social violence against women like torture for dowry, acid attack, rape, abduction and trafficking.

With the easy availability of computers, cyber cafes have sprung up across the country — even in rural areas. School and college students spend hours together in such cafes every day. Most of them spend time chatting online and seeing pornographies.

“The harassment of women in our society has got a new dimension with the advancement of information technology,” says Dr Jerina Begum, a professor of Dhaka University’s Information Technology Institute.

She says on one hand the internet has eased the life in many ways and made the lives of many women disastrous on the other.

“The cyber criminals are out to derail women using the technology. Jealousy, personal relations, frustration, growing number of divorce, intolerance and erosion in social values are among the reasons why the cyber crimes are spreading fast. The new cyber crime of cyber-violence against women, including cyber stalking, e-mail harassment and using internet to publish obscene information to exploit or embarrass women is taking alarming proportions,” she says.