Four railway police constables on duty aboard the Dhaka-Kurigram intercity Kurigram Express have been withdrawn following the alleged rape of a 44-year-old woman in the train’s canteen.
They have been attached to the Pakshi Railway District Police Lines. A three-member probe committee, headed by the ASP of the Ishwardi Railway Circle, has also been formed to investigate the incident.
Pakshi Railway District Police Superintendent Mohammad Mehedi Hasan confirmed the matter on Wednesday.
The withdrawn personnel are Santahar Railway Police Station constables Khokon Islam, Fazle Rabbi, Golam Mostofa and Ashikul Rahman.
The incident occurred on Sunday night when the woman, a resident of Sirajganj Sadar, boarded the Kurigram Express at Dhaka Airport Railway Station. She was reportedly planning to get off at Parbatipur Railway Station to visit a relative.
After the train passed Sirajganj, two police personnel allegedly took her to the canteen on the pretext of conducting a body search and sexually harassed her. Canteen worker Abu Bakkar Siddique, 22, allegedly raped her there.
The woman later called the national emergency service 999, prompting railway police to arrest Abu Bakkar from the moving train. He was taken into custody along with the woman after the train reached Santahar station.
The woman filed a case with Santahar Railway Police Station on Monday night, accusing Abu Bakkar of rape and two unidentified police personnel of sexual harassment.
Abu Bakkar, a resident of Abdulpur in Natore, was produced before a Bogra court on Tuesday and gave a confessional statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. He was subsequently sent to Bogra Jail.
After a medical examination, the woman was handed over to her son’s custody.
Santahar Railway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Dulal Uddin said the four constables were withdrawn on the instructions of the Pakshi Railway District Police Superintendent.
He said the three-member probe committee would investigate the incident and that legal action would be taken based on its findings.