Harassment is a grim daily reality for most Bangladeshi women, be it on the streets, in workplaces, and even inside the lifts of supposedly “secure” buildings. And when women muster the courage to speak out, they often face not justice, but silence. And in that silence, impunity grows, and danger follows.
A recent incident in Uttara, involving a courier company employee accused of harassment and assault, brings this issue into sharp focus. It is not an isolated case but a chilling reflection of how institutions, both public and private, fail women time and again.
According to the complaint, the harassment began inside a lift, an ordinary, shared space turned menacing by the presence of a courier employee, Rahman, whose indecent gestures violated two women’s sense of safety. They did exactly what society tells victims to do: they reported it.
The matter was brought to the attention of the building authorities and the courier booth manager. What followed was not swift disciplinary action, but a deafening silence.
That silence was not neutral; it was a form of permission. It told Rahman that his behaviour would have no consequence. It told the women that their safety was negotiable. And it told the public that courier’s celebrated slogans of corporate responsibility and ethical conduct are mere veneers for marketing, not values in practice.
Days later, when the lift door slid open, the women encountered Rahman again. Overcome by a sense of unease, they asked him to leave, only to be met with aggression and verbal abuse. When Ram Krishna Roy, a person who was present there, intervened and pulled Rahman out of the lift, his parting words were: “I will see you later.”
Hours later, Rahman and his associates made good on that threat. They attacked Ram Krishna and Md Hasim Uddin with iron rods and crude weapons when they were going to have a cup of tea nearby. The two men ended up in the hospital for treatment.
This was a preventable incident. The initial harassment is not the most harrowing part, nor even the violent assault. It is the chain of failures that enabled it — the predictable outcome of institutional inaction.
And how did courier respond to the repugnant actions of its employees? Not with accountability, not with empathy, but reportedly with intimidation. Witnesses allege that when victims refused to “settle” the matter quietly, courier representatives threatened to mobilise 3,000 employees to lay siege to the building.
The very notion of “mutually solving” a harassment case is grotesque. Harassment is not a “dispute” to be settled between parties; it is a crime. Attempting to negotiate it into silence and then using mob intimidation is an affront to every principle of justice, decency and corporate ethics.
For a multinational company operating under global compliance frameworks, this episode is indefensible. courier’s own Code of Conduct pledges to “foster a workplace free from harassment and retaliation.” Yet, in Uttara, that promise evaporated the moment a complaint was filed.
Global standards such as those set by the International Labour Organization (ILO) require companies to establish and enforce clear anti-harassment policies, maintain multiple and confidential channels through which victims can safely report abuse, and ensure that all complaints are investigated promptly and impartially.
They also obligate employers to take disciplinary action against offenders, to shield complainants from retaliation, and to cultivate a culture of respect and equality through continuous training and awareness programmes. These are not optional gestures; they are fundamental expectations of responsible global business.
A company that proudly touts its commitment to “respect, safety, and integrity”, has in this instance betrayed those very values. Its apparent indifference following the initial complaint, and its alleged intimidation tactics afterwards, expose a hypocrisy that cannot be ignored. The company’s polished diversity statements and glossy social-responsibility campaigns ring hollow when juxtaposed with its conduct in Uttara.
The failure does not end with the corporation. When the complaint was first filed, a woman named Nazneen Sultana, secretary of the building association, dismissed the matter as a “personal issue” and refused to intervene. That a woman in such a position — someone entrusted to act on precisely these complaints — could so casually disregard it is both alarming and tragic. Gender alone does not guarantee solidarity, accountability and conscience do.
The two assault victims have lodged a written complaint with the Uttara West Police Station, and while the authorities say, “necessary legal action is being taken”, one must ask: what does that action look like in the face of such brazen threats?
Three days have passed since the complaint was filed, but the Uttara West Police Station has yet to record the case or take any action against the abuser.
Until companies like that courier firm implement zero-tolerance policies not just in writing but in action, their claims of social responsibility remain nothing more than a public-relations facade. Authorities, too, must treat every complaint with the urgency it deserves.
Instead of taking action, his colleagues at courier have made every effort to shield the abuser.
This is a story of every bystander who steps in and becomes a target themselves. And it is the damning story of systems — corporate and civic — that prioritise quiet over justice, that see harassment as a “nuisance” rather than a precursor to violence.
Now, the victims live in fear, not just of their assailant, but of the system that should protect them. Instead of swift action, when a written complaint is met with threats from a corporate giant, it reveals a deep, systemic rot.
This cannot become another story of how power silences victims. It must become a precedent for accountability. The authorities must take decisive action to prove that no one is above the law and that every person has the right to safety and justice.
If Bangladesh aspires to be a place where women can walk, work, and live without fear, silence can’t be our answer. Justice must prevail.
