The Existing Laws Regarding Punishment for Household Violence against Females in Bangladesh: A Study on the Perception of Educated Class

Abstract

Household violence against females is becoming a social problem in Bangladesh. It creates disorganization in the family as a unit of society. To stop it, several laws are created by the government, but the existing laws could not stop it .The paper aims at studying the perception of educated class about household violence against females and the laws regarding punishment in Bangladesh. To know the objectives, the study followed analytical research design, social survey method & stratified random sampling. For some variables, the Likert scaling (1-to-5 rating scale) has been applied in the study. By using SPSS, the collected data has been analyzed i.e. frequency and percentage has been done. For hypotheses testing, a ᵡ²-test has been used to test the degree to which two or more groups vary or differ in an experiment. The study findings suggest that out of 101 respondents, only 34.65% know details about the existing laws regarding household violence against females, simultaneously 39.6% don’t know and 25.74% are undecided . Out of total, 30.69% respondents have supported the existing punishment provided by the existing laws, 63.36% don’t support it and 5.94% undecided. Again they think that the offender should be given exemplary punishment (18.75%), more hard punishment (32.81%), hurt by giving equal attack (2.97%) and bring change in mentality (43.75%). Out of total, 48.51% respondents opined that it will be possible to stop violence against females by creating consciousness about laws, simultaneously 47.52% by proper implementation and 11.88% by reformation of the existing laws. The result of hypotheses testing indicates that the no. of household violence against females will also be increased after proper implementation & reformation of existing laws, taking shelter of law of a woman and giving punishment the offender with imprisonment for seven years with fine for hurt wife by beating. So, awareness is the only way to stop household violence against females. Therefore, these findings may help the government , NGOs and medias to make awareness among the people of the society about the existing laws and females’ rights resulting the household violence against females may be stopped.

Keywords: Household Violence against Females, Laws, Punishment, Perception, Educated Class, Bangladesh