Another woman in Noakhali sexually assaulted

Police have yet to make any arrests in the case filed over a failed rape attempt and sexual assualt a woman by a group of five men on January 1 in Noakhali.

The 35-year-old survivor, from Chanondi union of Hatia upazila, had filed a case with the District's Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-2 on January 5.

According to case details, on January 1, a group of local goons – Zia alias Zihad, Faruk, Bhuttu Majhi, Enayet, and another Faruk – went to her home, when her husband was not there, and attempted to rape her in front of her two children. 

When they couldn’t pin her down, they stripped her naked and sexually assaulted her while one of them recorded the incident on their phone.

Hearing her and her children’s scream, neighbours rushed to their house when the five reported perpetrators fled the scene, according to the statement.

Later her husband rescued her and took her to Noakhali General Hospital the next day (on January 2). After receiving treatment for two days, she was discharged and filed a case with the tribunal.

The court ordered the additional superintendent of police of Hatia circle to submit an investigation report to the court within seven working days.

Additional SP Golam Farooq (Hatia circle) went to the scene of the incident on Saturday after receiving the court order.

Speaking to Dhaka Tribune Sunday, he however claimed that the video that went viral on different social media platforms is not of this incident.

He said: “The video that has been circulating on social media is not of the woman that has been sexually assaulted. It is not even her house. The video actually is of an incident that happened in one of her neighbour’s houses. A man named Mohiuddin was tortured there. 

“However, we are investigating who posted this video online.”

The probe report will be filed with the court in the next two to three days, said Farooq, adding “Efforts are on to arrest the accused.”

Noakhali General Hospital’s resident medical officer, Dr Syed Mohiuddin Abdul Azim, confirmed that a woman with assault marks on her body from Chanondi union of Hatia upazila  Chanondi union of Hatia upazila was treated there for two days. 

On September 2, 2020 another woman in Noakhali was gang-raped after being stripped naked by a group of miscreants at Joykrishnapur village of Eklashpur union in Begumganj upazila.

The rapists also recorded the horrific incident on video, which went viral, fuelling a nationwide protest for weeks. 

The woman filed two cases with Begumganj police station after the video went viral.