The government should also ensure a legal safety net for women to stop spousal abuse which is rampant in the country, they said.

According to a survey report by the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA), 155 women were killed by their husbands and another 35 women tortured last year. But the number of cases filed is far less -- only five for torture and 60 for murder.

The Oxfam, an international non-government organisation, in a research found that 47 percent of women fall victim to physical abuse in their homes. While it is commonly believed that economic dependency makes women vulnerable to abuses, the Oxfam found that 32 percent of working women are abused.

Although the government claims that the condition of women has improved in recent years, the human rights activists do not agree.

"The government is not working actively to stop domestic violence, fearing that such steps might affect the election results," said Sultana Kamal, president of Ain O Shalish Kendra.

"Because the government does not want to upset men and the conservative groups through a mass campaign against domestic violence," she explained.

Sultana also noted that the government is pledge-bound to provide security to the countrymen but it never thinks of the vulnerability of women only for the sake of its political interest.

Although the government signed the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Kinds of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw) last July, nothing has been done to implement the convention at home.

"The government is not proceeding with the Cedaw as it will ensure women's equal rights to property and divorce, fearing that it may irk a certain community," Sultana said.

Thousands of women of middle- and low-income groups, both educated and illiterate, have been facing physical and mental spousal abuse. Common physical assaults includes hitting, slapping, kicking, throwing acid and beating while psychological abuse involves constant scolding, intimidation, humiliation and coercive sex, according to research reports.

These realities are widely accepted in the society but these are not publicly discussed. And this silence is aggravating the situation.

The government and different organisations have launched efforts to break this norm several decades ago, but ignorance remains a major obstacle to improving the situation.

The Oxfam under its Gender Equality Programme conducted a study titled 'Knowledge Attitude and Practice Study' which identified the reasons why husbands beat up their wives and found that awareness programme can help change the attitude of the people.

The government claims that it is trying to raise awareness. Last year, it undertook a road march programme to raise awareness about trafficking, dowry and domestic violence.

"The road march programme covering 12 districts of the country has received a good response," said Minister for Women and Children Affairs Khurshid Jahan Haque.

On the Cedaw, she said the draft of the convention will be placed before the National Council for Women Development (NCWD) for its adoption.

Kathryn B Ward, project director of Nari Jiban, an NGO, and a visiting professor at Millennium University, also feels that the weapon against domestic violence is raising public awareness through media campaign, posters, stickers and leaflets.

To break the social silence, media campaigns should particularly hammer on the availability of options such as shelter homes, treatment facilities and legal aids for the victims.

There are many women who still believe that a husband has the right to beat his wife as he earns money for the family, she noted.

Worthless people try to dominate their wives as there is no law in this regard and the tradition of silence promotes these heinous acts, she maintained.