Arbitration saves rapist in Bangladesh

So, you can put a price tag on rape! At least that's what a local Awami League leader in Dinajpur and his associates think.

They in a village arbitration fined an alleged rapist Tk 50,000 and let him go. That's not all. They also set a condition that the victim cannot take legal actions against the offender.

On Friday afternoon, a 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a 50-year-old man in Chowdhurypara village of Parbatipur upazila.

According to the victim's family, the eighth-grader went to a nearby field to check on their goats grazing there.

Finding her alone, Nur Islam picked her up, took her to his house which was close by, tied her hands and legs and gagged her mouth, and raped her.

Upon being released, the girl, devastated and traumatised as she was, returned home and broke down in tears as she told her parents of the horrendous incident.

When the parents went to Mominul Islam, a member of local Chandipur union parishad and an AL leader, he arranged the arbitration at the rapist's house on Saturday night.

There, Nur Islam was fined Tk 50,000 payable to the girl's family by August 20.

The 15-member jury at the arbitration also set a condition that the victim's family must not file any case in this connection.

"They imposed the decision on us. We didn't want money. We wanted justice," said the victim's mother while talking to this correspondent yesterday.

"We are in deep problems after the incident. I have knocked every door but nobody is helping us to lodge a case. Even the UP chairman [Afsar Ali, a BNP leader] stayed away.

"Nobody even came forward to help us arrange treatment for her," the mother said before breaking down in tears.

Nur Islam fled the village the moment the arbitration ended, according to villagers.

A number of people, who were present at the four-hour arbitration that lasted till 3:00 in the morning, said Mominul and the other 14 arbitrators took bribe from the alleged rapist for passing the "soft judgment".

"Once the girl's parents started moving for justice, Nur Islam went to Momin Member and requested him to settle it," said a man, close to the member of Chandipur UP's Ward-9 and saw everything at close quarters.

"The whole arbitration was a charade. The judgment was finalised even before it began," he said, wishing anonymity.

"Before the arbitration began, Nur Islam had reached a deal with Mominul that he would pay Tk 50,000 to the jury members and another Tk 50,000 to the victim. In return, the jury would have to let him go scot-free," he said.

Officer-in-Charge Mahmudul Alam of Parbatipur Police Station told this newspaper that he learned about the incident yesterday morning and would take action after a case was filed.

This correspondent called Mominul Islam on his phone several times for his comments but he never responded.