Help is Not on the Way

Cuts to immigrant groups' funding are harming the effort to protect women.

The case of Rumana Manzar, a University of British Columbia grad student who was brutally attacked and blinded by her husband while visiting her native Bangladesh, brings the issue of domestic violence, once again, to the forefront. Manzar’s husband was arrested and charged with attempted murder after he blinded her, evidently in a rage over her desire to get an education. Manzar doubts she will ever see justice done in the case. Kripa Sekhar, the executive director of the South Asian Women’s Centre in Toronto, says funding cuts to immigrant groups will make it harder to prevent such incidents in the future.

THE MARK: What are your reactions to this case?

KRIPA SEKHAR: First of all, every time something like this happens and a woman is abused, our hearts go out, not just to the woman, but to her family as well. In this case, our hearts go out particularly to Manzar’s daughter [who witnessed the attack]. In this situation, you are not just abusing a woman; you are also abusing her daughter. This is another human being who does not deserve to be treated this way, whatever the reasons may be.

I think that Manzar has received a lot support from the community at UBC. However, in many instances you don’t know about the abuse of women [while it is happening]. In some cases, they are very badly abused and it’s only much later – [if it] becomes a murder case – that you hear and read about it.

THE MARK: The attack on Manzar occurred in Bangladesh. There are some people who might say that cases like that don’t happen here in North America. What would you say to that view?

SEKHAR: I think violence against women is violence against women. It doesn’t matter where it happens. It is something that we shouldn’t be finding excuses for. Every woman is important. The thing is, Manzar also lived in Canada. She happened to be back home [in Bangladesh when it happened]. When we say that this is “happening in another country,” we are minimizing and trivializing violence against women.

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Source: The Mark