4th grader raped in Cox's Bazar

A fourth grader was allegedly raped by Mohammad Shahidullah, 50, a vaidya (local medicine man), in Chakaria upazila of Cox's Bazar Monday night.

Bakhtiar Uddin Chowdhury, officer-in-charge of Chakaria Police Station, said they had arrested the vaidya and Shajahan Begum, 40 in this connection.

Shajahan took her husband Nurul Afsar, a mental health patient, to Shahidullah in the upazila's Badarkhali area for treatment, said the OC.

The vaidya told her that an innocent girl aged about 8 to 9 years would be needed in order to treat her husband.

Shajahan convinced one of her neighbours to let their child go with her for the sake of her husband's treatment.

When she took the child to Shahidullah's place, he took the girl to a different room as “part of his treatment” and raped her while Shajahan and her husband were waiting, the OC added.

Returning home, the girl informed her parents. The parents then filed a case with Chakaria Police Station in this connection accusing Shajahan and Shahidullah, the OC said.

The girl was undergoing treatment at Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital.