The inescapability of domestic violence

The news last week was dominated by the celebrations of the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation and the pride we felt at reaching the golden jubilee of independence, alongside the concerns over the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic hitting Bangladesh in full force. In between the reports on the visits of foreign dignitaries, the unrest on the streets over the visit of Indian PM Modi and the highest coronavirus infection numbers the country has seen since the first cases were detected in March last year—it is quite likely that the story of 25-year-old Hashi Begum escaped your notice. Hashi married her husband Rubel Hossain, a day labourer from Cumilla, at the age of 20. Two years later, they had their first child, a son named Nirob. According to Hashi's brother, things between the couple went from "bad to worse" soon after that.