Bangladesh: Beena's Story
Duration: 10'50"
Produced by: Ron McCullagh
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"I think that it just goes beyond their comprehension that she could not want
him and if she doesn't, then he will destroy her face." (Nasreen Haq,
Campaigner)
There have been about 200 acid attacks in the last year in Bangladesh. And they
are on the increase. A year ago doctors were treating one to two a month. Today
they're treating one to two a week. It's a uniquely cruel crime in a country
where for most young girls, their prospects of a reasonable life depend entirely
on a good marriage and motherhood.
"Beena's Story" is a news feature which explains the appalling lack of justice
faced by hundreds of Bangladeshi women who have been attacked by acid.
Beena is seventeen. Since fourteen year-old Dano threw the acid at her eighteen
months ago, Beena has made the journey from a teenager with prospects to a
strong but scarred young woman whose ambition now is to find work and survive.
Dano remains free. Beena's family suspect the police have been paid off.
But why does the government not act to stop the crime and why do the police seem
reluctant to prosecute the alleged attackers? The answer comes not from the
police but one of the plastic surgeons in Bangladesh's only Burns Unit.
"There is a law in our country, but the law is not applied to the people who are
throwing acid. Maybe the people who are throwing the acid are very influential
in society so the police, the law officers, they cannot go to them and the poor
victims, they are not getting any help from their administration, from the
police, I think so. That's why the incidents are progressing more quickly in the
absence of the law."
Most victims of acid attacks are young women and a group of them have decided to
go public and speak out against their treatment. As they face a difficult and
dangerous future, they show remarkable courage.
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