Sunday, June 26, 2011

Rumana Monzur

Rumana Monzur, a grad student at UBC, was blinded by her husband who gouged her eyes and mutilated her nose. Apparently he thought she had done something to displease him,

Ms. Monzur’s commitment to her studies is said to have been a factor in the attack, UBC president Stephen Toope said.

“This tragic occasion is a poignant marker of the need to work to protect the fundamental human right of all women to pursue education,” he said in a statement.

Bangladeshi media reports say Ms. Monzur’s husband also suspected her of having an affair with a fellow graduate student.

With her eyes swollen and nose bandaged, an emotional Ms. Monzur spoke to reporters from her hospital bed to describe what happened and defend herself. Much of the coverage in the Bangladeshi media has focused on her rebuttals of the allegations – as if infidelity would have justified the beating.




1 comment:

Kristen said...

One wants to respect other cultures, but how can one respect a culture when it says, "if she really was cheating on him, he was justified in beating her"?

This is just wrong. But what can we do about this mindset? If a man is accustomed to viewing a woman as his property, what can change his mind?