Many women buyers face harassment and discourteous behavior in the city’s markets. This usually happens when they refuse to buy something shown by the sellers.
Leaders of shop owners’ association, have said that to avoid such incidents, sellers have been warned.
In the markets around New Market, especially in Gawsia and Chadni Chawk, women jostle to walk in heavy crowd and often are forced to enter a shop due to the persistent pestering of sellers.
A female shopper says: “They do not want to listen to anything and carry on calling us to see their products; if we do not want to buy then they make unsavoury comments; often they also make obscene gestures behind our backs.”
A student of Jahangirnagar University was physically assaulted on Mar 22 when she went to a jewelry shop in New Market. During an altercation over the price of an item, the seller hurled expletives at the student and drove her out. Later, police came and arrested the seller.
Eventually, the issue was settled when the shop owner and the girl’s family met at the police station.
However, several business owners deny the allegations of impolite behavior, saying: “We have business worth crores and everything depends on our goodwill and so no one misbehaves with a customer.”
Sometime buyers vacillate over buying rates and after packing of an item want the price to slashed further, alleged the business owner.
“In such cases, sellers often lose their patience, which triggers a heated exchange.”
President of Gawsia shop owners’ association, Farid Uddin Ahmed, said: “Our traders are well behaved and we try to maintain the image of the market.”
Every year, we hold three meetings with sellers and advise them to be courteous but there are some bad elements who tarnish our image, he added.