Gang-rape victim confined to police station for six days, forced to pay bribe

Gazipur police have allegedly forced a gang rape victim to remain inside Sreepur police station for six days, pressing her to pay a Tk3,000 bribe. The victim went to the police station on October 25 to file a case against  Rubel, 22, and Raihan alias Rashed, 21, both hailing from Sreepur upazila, for raping her the previous night. The girl, aged 22, from Chapainawabganj, works at a ceramic factory in the upazila while residing in the home of her cousin. She claimed to have become familiar with Rubel eight months ago when the latter tried to develop a relationship with her. Gradually, Rubel managed to seduce the girl, eventually having sexual intercourse with her taking advantage of the relationship on September 8. Afterwards, he informed her that he had filmed the incident using his mobile phone camera. Since then, Rubel kept sexually exploiting her, threatening to circulate the video. On October 24, Rubel called her on her cell phone saying he would delete the video from his phone memory if she met him the same night. Instead, he raped her again along with an associate named Raihan. The next day, the woman went to the police station, aiming to file a lawsuit against the culprits. But the on-duty officers at the police station refused to accept any case, asking her to pay Tk3,000 instead. When she refused, they kept her inside the police station for the entire week. When contacted, Sub-Inspector Zakir Hossain of the police station, who is accused of demanding the bribe, on Tuesday said they registered a case against Rubel, his father Shahjahan and associate Raihan in this regard on Monday night. The victim said the SI agreed to accept her complaint after she negotiated him with the sum of TK1,500. “Maybe, police were deliberately delaying to file the case taking a hefty bribe from the rapists. They were doing it all only to damage the evidence of rape,” she said. Police finally sent her to Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College for medical examination on Tuesday morning after filing a First Information Report (FIR). The SI defended himself saying: “There was a process underway to help Rubel marry the victim and that is why she had to spend the days at the station.” Meanwhile, Kaliakoir circle’s Assistant Superintendent of Police Shahidul Islam could not be reached over phone despite repeated attempts to contact him over the matter.