A woman television journalist was hacked to death at the door of her home in Pabna of Rajshahi division, Bangladesh on August 28. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Bangladesh Manobadhikar Sangbadik Forum (BMSF) strongly condemn the horrific murder and the tyranny of violence against women that continues to plague Bangladesh society.
The Pabna correspondent for Ananda TV and a journalist for the Daily Jagroto Bangla newspaper, Suborna Nodi, 32, was horrifically attacked and hacked with a sharp-edged weapon by as many as ten assailants at approximately 10pm. She was rushed to Pabna Medical College Hospital but was declared dead on arrival.
Goutam Kumar Biswas, Pabna Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), told the media: "Unidentified assailants rang the doorbell around 10 pm on Tuesday. They hacked Subarna indiscriminately when she opened the door." Police advised that the assailants fled the scene, but later confirmed the arrest of Nodi’s father-in-law and caretaker of her house, Imran Hossain. The murder is not believed to be work-related, with both her family and police citing an ongoing legal battle over her recent divorce and dowry as a motive behind the murder.
Nodi’s mother, Morzina Begum, alleged that on the way to hospital, Nodi told that her ex-husband and his aide were also among the attackers.Domestic violence in all its manifestations is the most pervasive form of violence against women in Bangladesh, with an estimated 60 per cent of married women reporting violence at the hands of a spouse and/or in-laws. Dowry-related violence and killings remain prevalent across Bangladesh, with a 2017 report by Bangladesh Mahila Parishad revealing that at least 141 of the 713 murders recorded were dowry-related homocides.
Nodi is the first journalist to be killed in Bangladesh this year, according to IFJ records. Since 1996, at least 22 journalists have been killed in the country, with only two convictions.
Journalists in Pabna, Nari Sangbadik Kendra (Women Journalists Centre), Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) have condemned the killing and demand that the murderers be immediately brought to justice.
The IFJ said: “Each year, women journalists are killed, assaulted, threatened, jailed, abused and harassed, most often for doing their job, but also for the ongoing and pandemic discrimination that normalizes violence against women. Bangladesh authorities must ensure that the killers are arrested and prosecuted as soon as possible.”
The IFJ offers its condolences to Subharna Nodi’s family. She leaves behind a nine-year-old daughter.