Members of the Rapid Action Battalion early yesterday arrested two drivers who raped an indigenous woman on a moving microbus in the capital on May 21.
Ashraf alias Tushar, 36, was arrested at Kalapara in Patuakhali around 1am and Jahidul Islam Lavlu, 26, from Gulshan 1 around 5am yesterday, RAB’s Director (legal and media wing) Mufti Mahmud Khan told reporters at the elite force’s headquarters in Uttara.
They both are drivers at a buying house named Signet at Banani. RAB seized the microbus (Dhaka Metro Cha 15-4701) used in the crime from a house in the same area.
RAB members came out successful though Bhatara police are investigating the case, filed by the victim the following day, and another police team monitoring the probe.
Mufti Mahmud confirmed that there was no other person on the microbus during the incident.
On May 17, Tushar along with two South African women went to the shop in Jamuna Future Park where the victim works as a sales person and pretended to be a senior official of a buying house. Offering her a better job, he asked the woman to prepare a resume and they exchanged contact numbers.
He planned to rape the woman the same night and shared the plan with his colleagues – Lavlu and Firoz. Tushar kept contact with the woman. They were supposed to meet on May 18, but she declined.
On May 21, Tushar asked the woman to wait at Kuril bus stand when she finishes her work, Mufti Mahmud said.
Lavlu was driving the microbus while Tushar sitting in the back seat when they met the woman around 9:30pm. Tushar got down and asked whether she recognised him. As she said “yes,” Tushar offered her a lift to her home at Jasim Uddin Road in Uttara saying that they were going to airport area.
As she declined the offer, Tushar forcibly pulled her into the microbus. Later both Tushar and Lavlu raped the woman while driving the vehicle on Kuril Flyover and adjacent areas for around one and a half hours.
When the woman tried to scream for help, Tushar threatened to throw her out of the microbus, officials said. They later dropped her at Jasim Uddin Road.
The victim filed the case with Bhatara police on May 22, after several hours of hectic attempts at Turag and Gulshan police stations. She alleged that five miscreants raped her and told investigators that during the incident, she heard the name of Tushar only.
On May 23, forensic doctors at Dhaka Medical College Hospital found sign of gang rape.
Asked about the number of rapists, RAB Additional Director General (operations) Ziaul Ahsan said it might be a mistake since the girl had been traumatised following the incident.
He said RAB had two persons – Firoz and Khokon – as witnesses in the case. The identity of Khokon could not be confirmed.
When contacted, victim’s sister said they did not have any objection over RAB’s findings.
Different organisations and individuals have been demonstrating on the streets and condemned the incident on social media expressing concern over the insecurity the working women often face.
The incident created much hype since the law enforcers have failed to arrest many of the perpetrators responsible for gang rape, rape and sexual harassment of women and children that took place recently.
Following the arrests, Bangladesh Garo Chhatra Sangathan yesterday held a rally at TSC on Dhaka University campus and demanded death penalty of the culprits. Adivasi Chhatra Sangram Parishad also brought out a procession on the campus over the same demand.
The High Court on Monday sought explanation from the police for delaying to register the case and asked the police and the government to explain why the girl should not be compensated for the delay in recording the case.
The court also ordered the government to make sure that the police accept any rape complaint and serve all victims without any discrimination in the future. It asked the authorities concerned to explain why action should not be taken against the police members responsible for “negligence.”
