13-year-old rape victim caned at village arbitration
A 13-year-old girl has been raped by a man and later caned by a village arbitration in Faridganj upazila of Chandpur, said police.
The victim’s mother filed a case with Faridganj Police Station in connection with the rape and the torture on Monday.
According to the case statement, Faruk, 24, a day labourer by profession, picked up the girl on her way to school on October 30. He then boarded a cabin of a Dhaka-bound launch with the girl and raped her. Faruk returned to Chandpur the next day and released the confined girl.
On information, two members of the upazila’s Balithuba union parishad -- Haris Miah and Mohsin Topadar -- called a social arbitration on Sunday in which they awarded the girl with caning, the case statement said, adding that the locally influential duo also let Faruk escape.
Both the union parishad members, Faruk and some other people, who were present during the village arbitration, were made accused in the case. Chandpur Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Hasan Zaman took the case into cognisance and recorded the victim’s statement.
Abdur Rakib, officer-in-charge of Faridganj Police Station, said they were trying to arrest the accused who were on the run as of 9:30pm yesterday.
Contacted, Balithuba Union Parishad Chairman HM Harun said he heard the story of an eloping couple and directed Haris to settle the issue through village arbitration.
He, however, claimed that he did not know whether the girl was raped.
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