May 1, 2004 In November 2004, I interviewed a group of women suffering serious emotional wounds as well as physical injuries at a medical university hospital in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Hazera Kathun, a 33-year-old woman who published a monthly magazine on her own, was a victim of violence from her former husband. A veteran journalist of 17 years of experience, Hazera had numerous dark brown burn scars on her body. One by one, she showed me the circular scars with a diameter of about 5mm left on her face, arms, back, legs and other parts of her body. She said in a firm, clear voice, "My ex-husband raped me and then burned me with cigarettes." Hazera divorced her husband on July 7 of that year. Four months later, he visited her and demanded sex. When she rejected the demand, he performed the violent acts against her. "My ex-husband is the son of a politician. When he was a child, his parents badly spoilt him by giving him everything he wanted. So he has become an unusually self-centered man." Aisha, a 30-year-old mother of three daughters, was brought to the hospital after being struck hard with a ring by her husband. In Bangladesh, where only men can receive inheritances, women are generally expected to bear children until they give birth to a boy. If a wife fails to have a boy, she is likely to get into trouble with her husband. My husband said to me, "Bring me money or I will divorce you and marry another woman." "My husband doesn't even come visit me in the hospital. But I don't want to be divorced." Sarma, a 15-year-old student in Dhaka, was lying on bed, with her entire body covered with bandages. She suffered serious burns all over the body, including the face, and could not shut her eyes. "I was proposed by a man in the neighborhood, but gave him no clear reply for a while," explained the girl's mother, who was in a state of shock. "On one night, the man sneaked into my house while my daughter was taking a shower and poured strong acid over her body." In 2001, a total of 350 people, 90 percent women, became victims of similar acid attacks in Bangladesh. As the number of incidents of violence and other human rights abuses against women grows, over 10 organizations in Dhaka, including United Nations institutes and NGOs, are providing relief and support to the victims. (Published in EMERGENCY NURSING, May 2004 issue)