The photo of a battered young maid with black eyes swollen to the extreme shook the conscience of those who saw it circulating on social media the past week (“Tortured domestic help moved to Dhaka CMH”, The Daily Star, July 4, 2017). The child was identified as 11-year-old Sabina Akhter from Tangail district, who was working as a maid in an army officer's house for the last six months in the capital's Mirpur DOHS area.

These are questions which should have been answered. Shaon's death and his parents' allegations point towards torture in custody of someone who seems to have been as much a victim of the attack as the others. After a year, it should have been resolved and communicated if Chowkidar's death was an accident or part of the raid to kill the militants.

“You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.” These were the words of Mahatma Gandhi who was jailed 13 times for his non-violent and peaceful resistance against British colonial rule in India. Torture was also a common practice at the Robben Island prison camp where the former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela spent 18 years of his life. One would assume that this shameful practice would belong to the past.

On June 12, Bangladesh, along with other countries, observed World Day Against Child Labour, with elaborate programmes.

In 1988, being extremely poor and thanks to the poor state of the health sector in the country, my mother died due to maternal health related complication.

Sometimes I wonder how the future generations will view our time. For example, what will be their reaction when they come to know of the child labour situation in our society?

On May 5, 2017, an employer poured boiling water over an eight-year-old domestic help – a child – for breaking a glass by mistake.

Cyber security and the threat by hackers have been in the news headlines in the recent past. Two of the most recent incidents are well known: the Bangladesh Bank cyber theft in February 2016 and the recent WannaCry attacks for ransom in May 2017.

If the recent Banani rape case has brought anything to light, it is that a sizable portion of our population suffers from a severe victim-

Most men in the Middle East do not believe in women's equality. This was what can be concluded from a recent survey conducted by UN Women. The 10,000 respondents who were questioned belonged to Morocco, Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt.

The recent boiler accident at Jamuna Auto Rice Mills, located in Gopalganj in Dinajpur district, which killed 18 workers and injured 10 others...

Poorer countries tend to be measurably more corrupt than richer countries. But the debate about this is still open.

Police has come up with a plea. Although one officer articulated it at the first ever 'welfare parade' attended by the Prime Minister of the State; there is little doubt that the senior leadership of the police, if not the institution as a whole, subscribes to the idea.

There is a new breed of fans in South Asia: fans of the Right to Information (RTI) laws in our region. These are passionate, almost fanatical, RTI activists.

For those, who feel compelled to point out that for now, we should put the word “alleged” before the word rapist, or question why the women waited more than a month before going to the police, please remember the society we live in.

The effect of sexual abuse on mental health is profound. The trauma of abuse during childhood leads the victim to direct their shame, despair and anger inwards, which gives rise to psychological distress in adolescence.

The Digital Revolution in the latter half of the 20th century ushered in the Information Age; a period in human history featuring four key innovations: personal computers, the internet, smartphones, and data.

The fact that 13 women have been killed and 17 physically abused over dowry in Bangladesh in January and February of 2017 does little to rattle us. Neither do the figures of 107 deaths, five suicides, and 94 physical abuse victims in all of 2016.

It wasn't until 1972 that the term “informal sector” emerged in the development scene. Since then the phrase has continued to gain traction as a central theme in the development discourse.

Safety in workplace is a given for most of us. If you are reading this newspaper, there is a high likelihood that you don't have to worry about the walls crumbling around you or the floor collapsing right beneath your feet.