A seven-year-old girl has been raped allegedly by a brick kiln worker as she was alone at their Shotokhali home in Shalikha upazila of Magura district.
The girl’s mother filed a case with Shalikha police station on Friday evening, a day after the incident, said Tariqul Islam, officer-in-charge of the police station.
According to the case statement, the parents of the girl went out of their home on Thursday morning for work at a brick kiln in Shotokhali, leaving behind their child alone.
Taking advantage of the situation, Hanif, a brick kiln worker and son of Arshad Ali of Paikgachcha upazila in Khulna district, reportedly broke into the girl’s house and raped her.
When the victim’s mother returned home, she found her girl crying and took her to a local hospital. The little girl is now undergoing treatment at a one-stop-crisis centre in the district, the OC said.
Later, the victim’s mother filed a case against Hanif.
Police said they are trying to arrest the accused.
Rapes in Bangladesh
Rape cases are on the rise in Bangladesh although the government has introduced the death penalty for the heinous crime.
According to data compiled by Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), a rights group, 1,018 children were raped last year alone, but only 683 cases were filed with police stations. Among them, 116 victims were 6 years old or below.
Overall, 1,627 rape cases were reported last year and 53 of the victims were killed by the perpetrators after the crime while 14 took their own lives, the ASK data reveals.
In November last, Bangladesh introduced the death penalty for rape, following days of protests against sexual violence against women.
In October last, the country was rocked by huge protests after a woman was attacked and raped in the Noakhali district. In another case in Sylhet a week later, a woman was gang-raped at a hostel, triggering nationwide protests again.
