Ticket to Saudia Arabia: Girl raped in Dhaka after false job promises

Stories of how people are taken advantage of when they are promised employment abroad are not uncommon in Bangladesh. Zummat Ali, a 32-year-old man, had been courting a family in Chuadanga for over a month, pleading his case to let him send their daughter off to Saudi Arabia for work. He told them of the better life that awaited the girl in Saudi Arab. He promised them of a better life to be lived once the daughter started sending money back to Bangladesh. The girl’s father was swayed by the scoundrel’s selling pitch. He sold his cattle and mortgaged his house to raise Tk1lakh. He gave the money to Zummat to send his daughter abroad. On July 1, Zummat told the family the girl needed to go to Dhaka so that her fingerprints could be documented. The family trusted Zummat with the girl and they left for Dhaka the very day. Zummat took the girl to a house in Dhaka and raped her for three consecutive days. On July 4, he returned with the girl to Chuadanga. The family found out about the rape from the girl immediately and sought action. Her father claimed that Chuadanga police had refused to accept the case against Zummat. In their defence, Chuadanga sadar police station Officer-in-Charge Tozammel told the Dhaka Tribune that since the crime took place in Dhaka, they could not register the case. Furthermore, the girl’s father claimed no attempts to arbitrate the situation were made when the elders of the locality were informed. He said Zummat comes from an influential family in the area, which gives him a sense of impunity. He also added that Abul Awal Bepari, a local arbitrator, warned him not to press charges. Disheartened by the absence of humanity and justice, the enraged father sought assistance from Manobota Foundation – a human rights organisation. On Sunday, a delegation from Manobota Foundation including Executive Director Moni Khandaker, visited Chuadanga. Moni told the Dhaka Tribune that they were doing everything in their power to get the case filed.