Double blow

A rape victim was stabbed allegedly by five accused in a rape case and their cohorts in the district's Saltha upazila on Saturday night for not withdrawing the case. 

Around 9:30pm, Dipu Mollah, the main accused in the case, along with eight to 10 others, entered the girl's house in Phulbari village and confined her mother and two siblings to a room. They then took the girl to another room and stabbed her, said the victim's family.

Hearing screams of the girl's family members, locals rescued her and rushed her to Faridpur Medical College Hospital (FMCH), Nurul Islam, chairman of Bollovdi Union Parishad, told The Daily Star.

The girl's father was not home at that time.

The victim's family said Dipu asked the girl to start a relationship with him. Refused, Dipu, along with five others, went to the girl's house and raped her after taking her to a nearby bush on May 15.

The next day, the victim's father filed a rape case against Dipu and five others with Saltha Police Station.

Police later arrested one of the accused.

"Since the case was filed, the accused were threatening my family members to withdraw the case, and they finally attacked my daughter after entering our house,” the father told this correspondent.

FMCH sources said the girl was undergoing treatment with 10 stab injuries to her head, hand and back.

KM Aminul Haque, officer-in-charge of Saltha Police Station, said they primarily suspected that the accused of the rape case were behind the attack.

The five accused were on the run and made the attack suddenly, he said.

Liakat Hossain, sub-inspector of the police station, also the investigation officer of the case, said they were conducting drives to arrest the other accused.