A 12-year-old girl, who had survived rape, gave birth to a child at Jessore General Hospital in Monirampur upazila of Jessore on Saturday.
According to hospital sources, the girl was admitted to the hospital with labour pain on Tuesday. As the girl was underage while conceiving the child, she was experiencing complications during pregnancy. She was released on Thursday, and was admitted again on Friday.
Dr Abul Kalam, superintendent of the hospital, said: “The 12-year-old girl gave birth to a 2.5kg baby boy. They are both well now. However, the number of people continuously visiting her is raising the chance of the baby, and the mother to get infected.”
Meanwhile, the girl’s family members are at a loss. Her father, in tears, said: “I don’t know what to do now. How will my child take care of her newborn? What kind of identity will the child grow up with?”
Jessore Additional Superintendent of Police Salahuddin Shikdar said: “We collected the newborn’s DNA sample, which will be sent to Dhaka, to determine if it is a match with the suspected rapist’s DNA sample. We will take necessary steps after we get the DNA report.”
According to a case statement, after the divorce of the girl’s parents, a distant relative named Golam Kibria took her in so she could help out around the house, and continue her studies. However, from January he raped her on several occasions till February. When the girl notified Golam Kibria’s wife, Roushan Ara, she threatened her to keep this quiet.
In May, the girl fell sick, and when she was taken to a local clinic, the doctor through an ultrasonography test determined that she was five months pregnant.
Later on July 1, the girl’s father filed a case with Monirampur police station, following which, the accused Golam Kibria, 56, was arrested, and subsequently sent to jail.