A woman called Sabrina waiting for public transport on the road was unsettled when an unknown man kept ogling at her.
Disturbed, Sabrina protested and called other people on the road.
Sabrina wanted to charge the man with sexual harassment but the people said, “He was just looking, it would be improper to raise a pandemonium.”
When Sabrina wanted help from the police, they asked, appearing confused, “When and in what form did sexual harassment take place amidst so many people?”
The problem is that we do not know the definition of sexual harassment and are totally unaware of the wide variety of subtle abuse which apparently may appear harmless.
Giving some directions, the high court division of the Supreme Court formulated a guideline in 2009. It also defines sexual harassment and this may include, e mails/SMS with obscene language, pestering over phone, showing sexually explicit material, suggestive remarks and compliments with sexual undertones.
Ogling on the road and even passing a vulgar comment at a woman is also sexual harassment.
Establishing relation with false hopes falls under sexual abuse too.
President of the Bangladesh Mahila Parioshad, Ayesha Khanam, says, “The verdict on sexual harassment is the result of a long drawn campaign; it’s the duty of the state to make the police aware of sensitive words.”
Feminist leader, Fouzia Khandakar, says, “The first task is to recognize words that tend to harass women, the list if words has also been sent to all thanas.”
Additional commissioner of cyber-crime unit, Nazmul Islam, says, “The issue of harassment in a word depends on how the person to whom it has been used, responds to it.”
If the receiving person feels uncomfortable then it’s harassment, he added.