A case has been filed at the police station against five BNP and associate-body activists over the alleged gang rape of a 46-year-old woman in Rajshahi’s Puthia upazila. The case was recorded at Puthia police station at about 12:30am on Friday night, after which police arrested a BNP activist named Md Murad (32), a resident of Dhopapara Karigarpara village in the upazila. The other accused named in the case are Md Firoz (35), president of the Jiupara union Sramik Dal; Saiful Islam (40), member-secretary of the Jiupara union Swechchhasebak Dal; his brother Md Bulbul (28); and Jubo Dal activist Md Sumon (32). Another 12-13 unnamed people were also made accused. The accused claim the case is false.
According to police, the woman’s home is in Naldanga in Natore, but she had long been living in rented houses in various areas of Puthia upazila; she has two sons, one working in a Dhaka garment factory and the other living with her. After the case, she was sent to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital for a physical examination on Saturday. In the FIR, the woman alleged that she rented a house in the Dhopapara Karigarpara area on 1 June and moved in on 4 June; that night, around 9pm, the accused caught a 16-year-old boy seen in front of her house and then implicated her, accusing them of immoral acts. At one point, the complaint says, the accused entered the house and looted 25,000 taka in cash, a silver anklet worth 22,000 taka and a phone worth 40,000 taka; after the looting, the accused Saiful raped the woman in the house, and Firoz then took her on a motorcycle to a deserted field in Ujalpur village. There, the complaint alleges, Firoz summoned the accused Murad by phone, who reached the spot around 11pm and raped the woman in the field; Firoz then took her by motorcycle to Banshbari Bazar, from where she went by van to her village home in Naldanga.
Asked about this, Jiupara union Sramik Dal president Md Firoz said a boy had gone to the woman’s house for immoral acts, that locals had caught them, and that it was then decided she had to leave the village that night; he said he took her on a motorcycle as far as the market, after which she went to Naldanga, and that no looting or rape took place — the false case had been filed because she was driven from the village over immoral acts. Puthia police officer-in-charge (OC) Faridul Islam said: “It is not yet time to comment on whether the case is false or true; that can be said after the investigation. In light of the case, one accused was arrested that night and sent to jail through the court in the morning, and the woman was sent to hospital for a physical examination. Efforts are under way to arrest the other accused.”
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report