On Monday, 17 children’s and women’s rights organisations formed a human chain in Jessore town to protest what they said was a move to save the rapist. According to them, the police took into consideration a charge for kidnapping a schoolgirl, while ignoring the rape charges.
The victim’s father alleged that Ruman, 20, of the upazila’s Hanua village – accompanied by his aides Royal, 21, and Rubel, 29 – raped and recorded a video of his daughter on January 29 after forcefully taking her to the house of one Shakawat Kabiraj in Nolta area.
The girl was rescued around 9pm with the help of locals who informed her father of the incident.
“Ruman had always stalked my daughter and threatened to kidnap her,” he alleged, accusing Ruman of threatening him with dire consequences, as he informed it to the neighbourhood's elders.
He also alleged: “We went to Manirampur police station the following day to lodge a rape case, but the police sent us back home without taking heed of the charges.”
On February 7, when the victim’s mother went to the police station to charge the young men with kidnapping and raping her daughter, the police filed a kidnapping case but did not take the rape charge into account, Tahmid Akash, coordinator of the child rights body Shishu Rakkha Committee, told our sister concern the Bangla Tribune.
“This is a flagrant violation of human rights. We will submit memoranda to the home minister, inspector general of police, deputy commissioner, deputy inspector general of police, and superintendent of police of Khulna,” he added.
When asked, Biplob Kumar, officer-in-charge of the police station, said: “We incorporated a rape charge in the kidnapping case after receiving her medical report.
“The victim’s family did not inform us earlier. They came to the police station after some days as they had failed to resolve it through village arbitration,” he claimed, adding that they were going to arrest the accused.
Thursday, March 20, 2025
