101 Lashes to Rape Victim: Bangladesh Outdoes Saudi Arabia

by Alex DiBranco · 2010-01-26 15:27:00 UTC
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Last week, I posted on Saudi Arabia's decision to punish a rape victim with 100 lashes for ... getting raped. But the Saudis are not the only ones to have illicit sex laws that penalize sexual assault victims. Not to be outdone, a village in Bangladesh one-upped them (literally) by carrying out 101 strokes against a 16-year-old rape victim.

And the alleged rapist got ... diddly-squat. The man, four years older than his victim, lives in another village and, well, it was just a lot of trouble to try to actually bring him to justice when the girl was just right there, ripe for the beating. As long as they can satisfyingly beat someone into unconsciousness, all's well.

As with the case in Saudi Arabia, the victim did not speak out against her rapist, out of fear of punishment and shame. Three cheers for victim-blaming culture around the world! But both these women were exposed when a medical exam revealed that the rapist got them pregnant. The family is also "shamed," ostracized, and forced to pay a fine. The alleged rapist is comfortably free of all this shame and punishment.

These severe victim-blaming laws violate women's rights and allow rapists to get off scot-free. Since these women don't report the rape, the only reason we know it even happened is because they got caught pregnant. How many other women in these countries have been raped -- and how many of those rapists still walk the streets -- but never receive media attention, because they keep the assault a secret to protect themselves, and don't have their silence broken by a discovered pregnancy?

Photo credit: Lisa Norwood

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.
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