Photo : Collected

DHAKA, May 30, 2025 (BSS) - Rape is a dreadful word. One who commits rape is rapist and the other side is the victim of rape. Although discussions are held all aspects after rape, the economic losses remained unnoticed. 

Research said that the economic value of rape huge for the nation. But can rape actually be valued in this calculation? Violence against women before rape also has an economic impact which is escaped normal eyes.

The losses caused by violence against women in Bangladesh are estimated at 2.1 percent of the country's gross domestic product. Violence prevents a girl from going to school and a woman from working every day. And thus, they have to compromise on their future hindering economic and social development. 

After the rape, the incident is judged from an emotional point of view. Law and economic calculations are more important than emotions. That is, it is important to know the amount of damage caused by a particular rape.

On October 18, 2016 a child aged 5 years went missing in Dinajpur while playing with a neighbor's girl of the same age. The next day, the child was found sick near her house. The child's reproductive organs, head, neck, hands and feet had sharp weapon injuries. The child's father filed a case under the Prevention of Violence against Women and Children Act on October 20, 2016. Police arrested the neighbor Saiful Islam, 38, as an accused. The court sentenced Saiful Islam to life term imprisonment as the trial proved his guilt.

Since the incident in 2016, the girl and her family members had to spend most of their days in various hospitals, including the One-Stop Crisis Center of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, the hospital's Pediatric Surgery Department and the Burn Unit. She had undergone several surgeries on her reproductive organs.

The loss caused to the victim's family cannot be overstated. In short, when a child, girl or woman is raped in a family, it means that everything is over for her and her family. Sometimes it becomes difficult to save the victim. But what happens to the victim who survives? She has to fight every moment. On this difficult journey, someone may be by his side, someone may not be, but the victim and his family have to walk the thorny path alone.

It was impossible for the child and her family to come from Dinajpur to Dhaka every time, bear the cost of living and food in Dhaka and medical expenses. Even if they were well-off, it was impossible, because it was a great feat.

There is no accurate and specific research in the country on the types of mental, financial and related critical situations a family of a rape victim has to go through. Research on these is needed. It is necessary to compare the psychological, financial and other losses that a family of a rape victim has to go through and what kind of possibilities could have been expected from that family if that family had not been raped.

The girl from Dinajpur spends a lot of money on each surgery. Associate Professor (urology) at the National Institute of Kidney Diseases and Urology Hospital at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Md. Faisal Islam said that this surgery costs Taka six to seven lakh. The hospital authorities, however, treated the girl free of cost. 

Does a rape victim always get such support? A rape victim faces different sorts of the financial crises including primary medical expenses, transportation cost for medical treatment, accommodation and food expenses, advanced medical cost, case-related expenses, travel and accommodation expenses from the outskirts to a city and psychological treatment cost.

If these expenses were not incurred, the nation could have benefited a lot from that family. Not everyone can turn around after rape, most victims and families collapse socially, financially and mentally. 

If the state ensures the security of every citizen, especially women and children, they can move around freely and then the national economy will prosper. Thus everyone will have to work together to stop rape in the greater national interest.