Eight-year-old girls beaten in a Bangladesh orphanage
Barisal (AsiaNews) – An orphanage employee brutally beat two eight-year-old girls in Barisal. The incident took place last Saturday, but become public when an 18-minute video was posted on Facebook showing the health assistant hit the victims.
The authorities suspended the accused, Md Dulal, pending an investigation by a five-member probe committee.
The victims are Akhi, daughter of Taslima Begum, and Dalia, daughter of Bilkis Begum. Both victims were taken in by the orphanage a few months ago.
According to locals and witnesses, they were caught wandering off from the orphanage premises last Saturday.
The video shows Dulal canning them all over as the crying girls beg him to stop. In his defence, he told police that he was carrying out management orders.
Speaking about the matter, Ismat Ara, the orphanage’s deputy superintendent, expressed indifference, simply acknowledging that the girls had been subjected to "disciplinary action".
The High Court banned corporal punishment in 2011, a decision welcomed by human rights activists and many ordinary Bangladeshis as a step in the right direction in upholding children’s rights.
However, this kind of incident is commonplace because many educators believe that physical punishment helps discipline children.
After the incident, other girls in the Barisal orphanage said under condition of anonymity that they too suffered corporal punishment on several occasions.
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