A rape case against an Awami League leader, who is also the elder brother of a ruling party lawmaker from Tangail, has been the talk of the town for several days, and discussions on it have taken a new turn following some new findings.
Tension has been prevailing in the district since the filing of the case against Tangail Sadar upazila Awami League Vice President Golam Kibria Boro Moni, the brother of Choto Monir.
Moni's opponents and followers are putting forward various arguments in favour of and against the case.
According to the date mentioned in the case statement, the rape survivor, a teenage girl, was raped around three months ago. But the medical report found that the girl is already six months pregnant.
Moni's supporters are asking how she could have become pregnant over two months before the rape.
Besides, the accused Awami League leader termed the case false and politically motivated.
Meanwhile, it was also found after tracking his mobile operator that Boro Moni was not in Tangail on the date mentioned in the case statement.
According to the case statement, the 17-year-old girl is now pregnant due to the rape.
Moni's wife, Nigar Aftab, was also accused of torturing the girl, according to the case filed at Tangail Sadar police station on April 5.
The girl mentioned that Boro Moni is her relative. They used to talk on WhatsApp. The girl had a property dispute with her brother. After informing Golam Kibria about that, he assured her of solving the problem.
Later, on December 17, the Awami League leader asked her to go to the fourth-floor flat of a 10-storey building next to his own house in the city's Adalat Para. After going there, he made sexual advances towards her.
As she refused, they took away her mobile phone and locked her in a room. After about three hours he entered the room and forcibly raped her. Afterwards, he forbade her from disclosing the incident to anyone. He threatened to kill her if she revealed it.
Then he raped her multiple times threatening that the pictures taken during the first time of the rape would be released.
She mentioned in the case that she became pregnant as a result of this rape. When she informed Golam Kibria about her pregnancy, he advised her to get an abortion.
After the case was filed on April 5, the girl's elder brother, Ziaul Hasan Jonny, claimed at a press conference at Tangail Press Club that his sister was trying to harass a family after being addicted to drugs.
He said: "My father was an officer of the district police. My younger sister got addicted to drugs while studying at Bindubasini Government Girls High School in the city. She threatened to commit suicide if our family did not give her money for drugs. Our family was forced to give her money.”
Jonny said if they protested, she threatened to sue in various ways. Before that, she married a boy from Thana Para in the city. Recently, the person against whom she filed a rape case is their distant uncle. He also claimed that his sister filed the case for money.
Her sister underwent a medical test at a clinic five months ago, where it was confirmed that she was pregnant.
Meanwhile, a video of the girl recently went viral on Facebook.
In the video, she introduces herself as the wife of the general secretary of Tangail Chhatra League, in a hotel.
Meanwhile, the accused said that the case was filed to tarnish his image. He has no involvement in the incident. False propaganda is being spread against him. He was at a function outside Tangail on the day of the incident mentioned in the case. “That girl is a drug addict. She used to extort money from various people by sending mails. There are many allegations against her. Even the girl's brother held a press conference against her.”
He also said that his younger brother is a member of parliament. Their opponent group is also carrying out a conspiracy so that his brother would not be able to collect nomination papers.
“I demand exemplary trial of these conspirators,” said Golam Kibria.
Dr Khandaker Sadiqur Rahman of Tangail General Hospital said that preliminary signs of rape were not found. Medical examination revealed that the girl was more than 24 weeks (six months) pregnant. Later the report was given to the investigating officer of the case.
In this regard, the girl was contacted several times but could not be reached.
In this regard, Tangail Superintendent of Police Mohammad Kaiser said that the matter is under investigation.