The valiant officers of Ramna Police Station brought girls out kicking and screaming from Shamsunnahar Hall of Dhaka University to take them to prison. Talk about human rights!

I am at present studying in Grand Forks, North Dakota at the University of North Dakota, and I remember the day my Abbu bid me farewell at the airport saying "ma, watch out ... there are both good and bad people. Keep with the good and stay away from the bad and you will be fine". So far so true.

I arrived alone, scared, in a new country ready to call it home. Coupled with images of the New York Times calling New York City the most crime infested city lurking in my head, I was scared that I was leaving real home and security behind to find God knows what.

But now thousand miles away from home I live in a secure residence hall where watch is constantly monitored and since I work for the housing, we not only have padlocks on each and every door but also have individual keys, alarm systems, video cameras. Threat to violence is taken seriously and dealt with promptly.

Things are just a tad bit different here than in Bangladesh. A Justice does not arrive the next day to sit on his soft cushion and listen to 40 girls' woes for an hour and let everyone know that the "documentation" will be completed in half a month or so. Is it life's irony that I am safer than those girls at home ever were? What exactly is being done to help these girls?

At the end of the day you really don't want to ask your daughter if she prefers to stay and study at home because it is "safer", or study and live abroad on her own. Hopefully you and your daughter make the right decision. Courtesy: The Daily Star