Four constables of Santahar Railway Police Station who were on duty aboard the Dhaka-bound Kurigram Express have been withdrawn to Pakshi Railway District Police Lines following an allegation that a 44-year-old woman passenger was raped in the canteen of the moving train.
A three-member committee has also been formed to investigate the incident, headed by the assistant superintendent of police (ASP) of the railway’s Ishwardi Circle.
Pakshi Railway District Police Superintendent Mehedi Hasan issued the orders on Wednesday morning, Santahar Railway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Dulal Uddin said.
The four constables are Khokon Islam, Fazle Rabbi, Golam Mostafa and Ashiqul Rahman.
According to the case statement and railway police, the woman, from Sirajganj Sadar, boarded the Kurigram Express at Airport Railway Station in Dhaka on Sunday night.
She initially planned to get off at Sirajganj but later decided to travel to Parbatipur in Dinajpur to visit a relative.
After the train passed Sirajganj station, the two police personnel allegedly took her to the canteen on the pretext of conducting a body search. She alleged that they sexually harassed her there, while canteen worker Abu Bakkar allegedly raped her.
The woman later called the national emergency service 999 to report the incident. A team of Santahar Railway Police subsequently arrested Abu Bakkar from the moving train.
The investigating officer later produced Abu Bakkar before Senior Judicial Magistrate Shilpi Das of Bogra on Tuesday evening. He gave a confessional statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and was subsequently sent to Bogra Jail.
After a medical examination, the woman was handed over to the custody of her son.
The incident sparked widespread concern after allegations emerged that a female passenger had been raped in the canteen of a moving train.
The three-member committee has been tasked with investigating the incident, while the four constables have been withdrawn to the police lines pending the investigation.
