A seminar held in Dhaka on Sunday highlighted the need to strengthen legal protections for minority women facing cyber harassment and discrimination in Bangladesh. Organized by the Bangladesh Mahila Oikya Parishad, the event brought attention to the compounded vulnerabilities experienced by minority women due to the intersection of their gender and religious identity.

Speakers underscored how women from minority communities are subjected to threats, intimidation, and targeted harassment on social media platforms, often linked to their religious backgrounds. This "double marginalisation," as described by participants, calls for focused policy responses to safeguard their rights and security online.

Sumana Gupta, who presented the keynote paper, advocated for the creation of specialized complaint mechanisms to address cyber harassment and online communal incitement swiftly. Her recommendations included developing dedicated systems for reporting such violence, ensuring timely and effective intervention by authorities, and systematically recording incidents involving violence against minority women. Gupta also called for enhanced training for police and local officials to improve their capacity to respond adequately to cases involving cyber abuse and communal tensions.

In addition to the focus on online harassment, legal reforms pertaining to personal status laws were discussed. Former Supreme Court Justice Krishna Debnath and senior advocate Subrata Chowdhury emphasized the pressing need to modernize Hindu family law, especially concerning divorce and the rights related to second marriages. They framed these legal reforms not only as issues tied to women’s rights but as broader social demands requiring legislative attention.

The seminar highlighted persistent gaps in legal and administrative frameworks, underscoring the urgency of comprehensive measures to protect minority women from both online and offline forms of discrimination and violence. Participants called on the government to prioritize these issues as part of ongoing efforts to uphold human rights and social justice in Bangladesh.