A case has been filed with the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal against Habiganj Union Parishad (UP) chairman, member, and six others, on charges of gang-raping a woman in Habiganj.
The accused in the case are Nabiganj upazila’s Aushkandi UP Chairman Muhibur Rahman Harun, UP member Dulal Ahmed, 40, Sebul Miah, 28, Jibu Miah, 27, Shahidul Miah, 25. Three other unnamed perpetrators were also accused in the case filed on Sunday.
Nabiganj police station OC Azizur Rahman confirmed the matter Sunday night and said that the tribunal ordered the police station to file an First Investigation Report (FIR) and submit their findings within three days.
According to case details, on October 8, the rape survivor was kidnapped by the accused from Parkul village of Aushkandi union in an autorickshaw (CNG) while returning home from Sherpur Bazar. She was confined at an unknown location and gang-raped for three days. A day later – just the way she was kidnapped – a CNG left her in front of a restaurant in Aushkandi Bazar.
Locals informed her husband, Muhibur Rahman, who came to the spot and immediately admitted her to Nabiganj Upazila Health Complex for treatment.
Muhibur later filed a case and testified before the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal, the court of Habiganj Districts and Sessions Judge, Md Halim Ullah Chowdhury, on October 18.
The plaintiff meanwhile claimed that the accused, being influential members, threatened him to withdraw the case and forcefully sign an affidavit. He expressed concern about his security in his own house.
When Dhaka Tribune contacted the UP chairman for comments, Muhibur Rahman Harun claimed that he heard of an “assault case against a woman” being filed and claimed that he did not know anything about the matter.
When contacted, UP member Dulal Ahmed claimed that he was falsely framed in a case. “I am not at all connected to such heinous crimes.”
Nabiganj police OC Azizur Rahman said that an FIR has been filed on Sunday night, following the tribunal’s directive. “Police are trying to arrest the accused.”
Recent rape cases in Habiganj
In October alone, at least three rape cases were reported in Habiganj.
On October 16, a fourth grader girl was raped reportedly by a 40-year-old man who was later arrested.
A mother and her daughter were raped on October 6, reportedly by two robbers.
Meanwhile on October 4, a woman was kidnapped by an autorickshaw driver from Syedpur area of Nabiganj while going to Majlishpur in a CNG. She was tied and gang-raped in a secluded area, reportedly by three men, overnight. The next day an autorickshaw left her outside a relative’s house the next day. Local influentials of the village tried to cover up the case by arbitration and she was later rescued by the police.
