Jamaat women’s chapter rallies for justice against rape

Several hundred women from Jamaat-e-Islami’s women’s wing stood shoulder-to-shoulder outside Dhaka’s National Press Club on Saturday, forming a human chain that pulsed with outrage and resolve. 

Their mission: to eradicate the "disease called rape" and seek justice for the brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Magura. 

With torches replaced by fervent chants, they unfurled a five-point demand to reshape laws, morality, and society itself.  “Give us the right to life and security!” they cried. “Hang the rapists in public—it must be done! Dispose of rape cases in 90 days! Abolish bail for rapists! One punishment: death!” The slogans echoed through the capital, a unified call to the interim government amid grief over the Magura tragedy.  

It was the first independent public programme of the women’s chapter of Jamaat in the recent times.

Professor Nurannisa Siddika, Secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami’s Women’s Division, led the charge. “The Magura child’s killers must face trial within a week and be hanged,” she said. “All rapists should meet the same fate. Loopholes in the law have let them escape for too long.” 

She blamed a collapse in values on “irreligious and immoral education,” urging an Islamic education system to restore morality. “The interim government promised 90-day trials and no bail for rape cases—we demand action now, or women will take to the streets in a fierce movement.”  

The Magura case, she stressed, wasn’t just rape—it was murder. “Try them under our demands and the government’s own pledges,” she insisted.  

Advocate Sabikunnahar Munni, a central working council member, accused the ousted Awami League of fostering a rape culture. “Their Chhatra League leaders celebrated crimes with sweets, unpunished under a tyrannical umbrella,” she said. Yet she voiced cautious optimism for the interim government: “These five demands are a roadmap for peace and public good. Ignore them, and we’ll mobilize fiercely.”  

Munni emphasised deeper reform: “Before fixing the state, fix people’s morality and purge politics of criminal shields. Only then will change take root.”  

Nazmunnahar Neel, another council member, decried a “value-starved society” and a broken education system. “Over 10 years, 3,500 child rape cases went untried, per the Law and Arbitration Center. We demand speedy trials and hangings—silence isn’t an option anymore.”  

Principal Nurunnisa Siddika presented the demands:  

1. Swift Justice: Complete the Magura trial in one week, with execution for the guilty.  

2. Death for Rapists: Hang all convicted rapists without exception.  

3. End Delays: Finish rape and murder trials within 30 days to break impunity.  

4. Moral Overhaul: Introduce an Islamic education system to counter immorality and inspire social values.  

5. Quranic Laws: Implement Islamic laws in a Muslim-majority nation to curb rape and murder.  

The human chain buzzed with leaders like Assistant Secretaries Saida Rumman and Marzia Begum, alongside council members Rozina Akhtar, Ayesha Siddika Parveen, and others from Dhaka’s north and south wings. Their presence underscored a growing resolve: this isn’t just a protest—it’s a pledge to reshape Bangladesh’s response to sexual violence.