Seven days after a ready-made garments worker was abducted and raped in the capital’s Mirpur area, police have failed to arrest Farid, the main accused in the case.
The victim’s family claims that the accused has threatened them after the rape.
“Farid threatened me to withdraw the case over phone yesterday morning. He said otherwise the consequence wouldn’t be good,” the victim’s aunt, Parul Akhter, told the Dhaka Tribune.
She claimed that Farid was roaming the streets in broad day light, but the police had not arrested him.
“It seems as though the police are helping the accused,” she said.
Sub Inspector of Mirpur Police Station Moinul Islam, who is the case Investigation Officer, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have not yet traced the accused. The victim couldn’t give us details about the criminals. We are trying our best to solve the case.”
“I have not heard about threats to the victim’s family. If it has occurred, the police should be notified,” he said when asked about the recent threats.
He could not give any information about the possible involvement of kidnapping gangs in abducting the victim.
The victim gave her deposition under section 164 in the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Sunday. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sabrina Ali was present there.
In her deposition she said, “While taking a rickshaw home, Farid blocked my path and pressed his hand over my mouth so that I could not shout. He forced me into a microbus, blindfolded and gagged me and tied my hands. There were two other people inside the vehicle. Farid called one of them ‘Sumon’, but I don’t know him. The three of them raped me and then flung me behind a bridge. Later, I managed to get home.”
“Farid used to tease my niece every day for the last six or seven months. Although he is married, Farid proposed to my niece but she refused,” Parul told the Dhaka Tribune.
All the standard medical tests of the victim had been done, confirmed Dr Bilkis Begum, coordinator of the One-Stop Crisis Centre.
The victim, who is an orphan and lives with her aunt, was kidnapped and raped on July 1 while on her way home to Paik Para after 10pm. She works at Creative Garment in the Darus Salam area of Mirpur.
“A case was filed against four people, including two named and two unnamed persons. The names of the accused are Farid and Sumon,” Sub-inspector of Mirpur Police Station Matiur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune.
