Ex, friends rape garment worker in Joypurhat

A readymade garment worker has allegedly been gang-raped by her separated husband and his two friends in Panchbibi upazila of Joypurhat on Saturday evening. 

Monsur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Panchbibi Police Station, said the victim filed a case against her separated husband Mehrul Islam, 23, and his two friends Gopal Chandra Barman, 22, and Murshidur Rahman, 23, yesterday. 

Police arrested two accused -- Mehrul and Gopal -- while on Saturday night and sent them to jail yesterday via court, the OC said, adding that Murshidur was on the run.

Quoting the case statement, the police official said Mehrul and the victim married each other around a year ago. Three months after the marriage, the husband sent a letter to the victim mentioning that he divorced her. Since then, the husband never treated the victim as his wife. 

However, no legal step to divorce the woman followed, he added. 

According to the case statement, Mehrul recently asked the victim to visit him in Panchbibi as he wanted to mediate the issue between them.

Responding to the request, the victim boarded on a Panchbibi-bound bus and met Mehrul on Saturday evening. Receiving the victim, Mehrul took her to an isolated area near Chhoto Jamuna River in the upazila. 

Mehrul, along with two of his friends who were already on the spot, then gang-raped her. Hearing the victim scream, locals rushed to the spot and rescued her. The accused, however, managed to flee, the case statement added. 

The victim was sent to Joypurhat Modern Hospital for treatment.