A Union Parishad chairman has reportedly fined a man Tk1,000 in connection with his alleged involvement of raping a housewife in an Ashrayan Project in Pabna.
However, police already have arrested the rape accused in the incident.
The punishment was announced in a local arbitration which was held at Chakla Ashrayan Project area located in Eidgah field of Chakla union of Bera upazila. The incident generated a storm of discussion and criticism.
Earlier, the rape incident occurred last Wednesday.
According to a complaint filed in connection with the incident, Shafiqul Islam, a resident of the project area forcibly raped another resident of the project.
Hearing the screams of the rape survivor, the accused ran away.
The day after the incident, an arbitration meeting was held at Chakla union parishad on Thursday.
There, under the leadership of Idris Ali Sardar, chairman of Chakla union parishad, the accused was beaten with a shoe, and the incident was settled for Tk1,000.
The chairman also threatened the rape survivor not to file any case or trouble in the future.
Later, when there was a storm of discussion and criticism in the area, the police arrested the accused Shafiq and sent him to jail on Saturday night.
The chairman also threatened the woman’s husband not to take any legal action, her husband alleged.
Chakla Union Parishad chairman Idris Ali Sardar denied the allegation.
"When both parties came to me, I held an arbitration meeting with the help of local members. There was no allegation of rape. As a man entered the house of the woman without any permission, he was punished. Besides, the money was taken as the cost of rural police. That was not fine,” said the UP chairman.
Both parties then accepted the decision of the arbitration meeting. Now they are not obeying.
He also alleged that a vested quarter is spreading false information against him.
Rashidul Islam, officer-in-charge of Bera police station, said that after receiving the complaint, a team of police conducted a raid last Saturday night and arrested the accused Shafiqul Islam Shafiq.
“But we have not received any written complaint against the chairman. If there is a complaint, legal action will be taken,” he added.