'I Didn't Want to Be the Father of a Rape Victim; I Wanted to Be a Proud Father'
Symbolic image. Collected.
The father of the 8-year-old child who was raped and brutally murdered in Pallabi of Dhaka, said with deep regret, "I am the father of a rape victim. I do not want to be the father of a mutilated body. I wanted to be a proud father. Please give me back that name, give me back that honor."
He said, "If you cannot do that, then create a social system where no parent's lap will ever be left empty again. Where no parent's path of tears will remain open for a lifetime. Where they will not have to live as living corpses for the rest of their lives."
He was speaking at a roundtable discussion on Saturday (June 6) at the Shahbagh Shaheed Abu Sayeed Convention Center.
The roundtable, titled "Increase in Child Abuse in Bangladesh and Its Remedies," was organized by the Cell for Legal and Health Assistance for Oppressed Women and Children, formed by the BNP.
The grieving father, Abdul Hannan Mollah, demanded exemplary punishment for his daughter's murder. He stated, "I want to know—who will take responsibility? Is this negligence on my part, society's part, or the state's part? My little girl, my precious child, was torn to pieces—who will take responsibility for that? Am I responsible? Or who is responsible?"
He shared that even 13 days after the incident, his wife continues to suffer from mental trauma. "My wife (the child's mother) doesn't know where she is going or what she is saying. She has to be looked after constantly. Only Allah knows whether she will recover."
At this time, the father also expressed concern for his eldest daughter. However, he said he is worried not only about his own daughters but about all children. He recalled an incident: "Yesterday (Friday), a five-year-old girl came to our home. She has already learned the word 'rape.' Yet, at this age, she shouldn't know such things. That child can no longer go to the bathroom alone; she cannot take a single step without holding her mother's sari. This is the state of mind of children in Bangladesh today."
The roundtable was moderated by BNP's Health Affairs Secretary, Professor Dr. Rafiqul Islam. Participants included Deputy Minister for Social Welfare Farzana Sharmin, government MP from the reserved women's seat Nipun Roy Chowdhury, National Press Club President Hasan Hafiz, Professor Dr. Kazi Golam Mokhlesur Rahman (Head of the Forensic Medicine Department at Dhaka Medical College Hospital), and lawyer Rashna Imam, among others.
