Content warning: Please be aware this post contains descriptions of sexual violence. Read with caution.
This spring, 14-year-old Sukla*, a convert from Hinduism, and her family attended a cultural event in southwest Bangladesh. Sukla became tired and decided to go home and go to sleep.
On her way, three men suddenly appeared. Sukla knew one of the men—he was close enough to her family that she called him “uncle.” But the men were not there to help Sukla get home. Instead, they covered her mouth and forcefully took her to a deserted field, where she was raped by the three men—including the man she knew.
“I used to call him Uncle Suresh*, since he was the same age as my parents. I begged him not to rape me, but he refused to listen,” Sukla said.
When a young woman is the victim of sexual violence in this cultural context, it can ruin the reputation of both the girl and her family. Her family didn't want to negatively impact her future, and so they planned to not report the crime. However, one of Sukla’s rapists realized this and demanded a great deal of money to keep quiet, compounding the harm he'd already done.
His extortion attempt forced Sukla to file the case with the police, and Suresh was taken into custody—but not his accomplices, who had apparently bribed police to leave their names out of it.
Since the incident became public, it is Sukla who has suffered. When she leaves her home, she is teased and sneered at by the villagers. Her parents fear what will happen to her when she returns to school after the COVID-19 crisis eases.
“There is a possibility that the attack was because of the family's conversion to the Christian faith,” said Brother Abraham*, an Open Doors local partner. “It may be some kind of revenge for leaving Hinduism and practicing Christianity in front of the Hindus. The family assumes it to be so.”
Attacks against women who convert from Islam or Hinduism frequently includes sexual assault, which scars not only the woman but her whole immediate and church family. Local church leaders in the village are currently helping the family deal with the situation, and local partners are in regular contact, praying with and encouraging them to stay strong in their faith.
Join us as we pray for Sukla and others who have undergone this trauma.
Ask God to heal Sukla. Ask Him to help her mourn, to seek Him and to redeem her trauma and pain, and become bolder and stronger in her faith as a result.
Pray Sukla will not be targeted or ridiculed for the horrific crime she suffered. Pray her identity in Christ as a new creation would be a constant reality in her life.
Pray the family will not become frustrated and hopeless in facing the challenges of the attack and the legal system. Pray for justice.
Pray that neighboring believers will stand with the family, encourage them and extend whatever assistance they need.
Bangladesh ranks No. 31 on the 2021 World Watch List.
Opendoorsuk.org
*Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.
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