News Title : HARASSING WOMEN OVER PHONE : Mobile courts to operate to stop harassment: Tarana

News Date : 2015-12-03

-Staff Correspondent
State minister for post, telecommunications and information technology Tarana Halim said on Wednesday that they would operate mobile courts to punish those who would harass women over cell phones. She also said as a rights activist she was in favour of 18 years as minimum marriage age for women. She said these at an award ceremony organised by the Canadian high commission in Dhaka to mark International Day of the Girl Child 2015. The ceremony was held at Hotel Sonargaon where four government officials were awarded for playing important role in preventing child marriage. Tarana Halim said if anyone would threat or harass any women or girl over cell phones, magistrates would take action against them. The government was working to ensure cyber security for women and girls. About the government plan to lower the minimum marriage age for women from 18 years to 16 years, she said nothing was decided yet. The state minister said in greater interest of people they postponed service of different social media. A team of Facebook authorities was scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh on December 6 or December 7 to discuss with the government about issues related to violence and bullying against women and other harassments through the social media, she said. High commissioner of Canada Benoît-Pierre Laramée said child, early and forced marriage remained far too common in Bangladesh. United Nations resident coordinator Robert Watkins said investment in girls was one of the keys to unlocking the potential of development in a country. The Canadian high commission honoured divisional commissioner (Barisal) Md Gaus, deputy commissioner (Khulna) Md Mostafa Kamal, deputy commissioner (Jamalpur) Md Shahabuddin Khan and upazila nirbahi officer (Kaliganj, Khulna) Syed Faruq Ahmed for demonstrating excellent leadership in preventing child marriage in their communities.

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