"He became angry seeing the hair and blamed the wife."
A Bangladeshi man was arrested on Tuesday, October 8, 2019, for forcibly shaving his wife’s head after he found a hair in his breakfast.
The arrest comes after rights groups and activists warned that violence against women and girls were on the rise in the country.
Police identified the suspect as 35-year-old Bablu Mondal and arrested him after the locals found out about the incident and informed officers.
The incident happened at a village in the Northern District of Joypurhat.
Local police officer Shahriar Khan explained what had led Mondal to act like that towards his 23-year-old wife.
He said:
“He found a human hair on the rice and milk breakfast his wife prepared for him.
“He became angry seeing the hair and blamed the wife.
“He then took a blade and forcibly shaved the head of the wife.”
Officer Khan confirmed Mondal was arrested and charged with “voluntarily causing grievous hurt” as well as “outraging the modesty” of his wife.
The offences carry a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison if the Bangladeshi man is convicted.
Activists have said that the incident highlights the increasing repression of women in the country even though there are laws to protect them from abuse and sexual assault.
Human rights group Ain o Salish Kendra has said that there were an average of three rapes a day in the first six months of 2019.
The group said of the 630 women raped between January and June, 37 were later killed while seven took their own life.
There were also 105 cases of attempted rape.
One case of violence against women occurred in Narayanganj. A principal of a madrasa was arrested for allegedly raping 12 female students.
Maulana Al-Amin, the principal of Baitul Huda Cadet Madrasa, was accused of rape, attempted rape or sexually abusing the students.
On July 4, 2019, investigating officer Md Aslam Hossain confirmed that the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) police force had arrested Al-Amin.
A number of explicit porn videos had also been recovered.
The RAB-11 Additional Superintendent of Police Alep Uddin told media that after initial questioning and interrogation, Al-Amin confessed to the rape and sexual assault of 12 female students.
He also admitted showing them porn videos and made porn videos using images of the girls.
On the same day, a mother registered a formal case against Al-Amin after a number of students and guardians registered complaints against him and his illicit conduct towards them.