Cops find no trace of rape of NGO staffer
Police yesterday submitted an enquiry report before a court over a defamation case filed by the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) against a female NGO worker in Cox's Bazar.
In the report, police claimed that no incident of rape of the female NGO worker by any BGB man had occurred, as no such evidence was found in the woman's medical report.
The woman was a worker of Hnila office of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) in Teknaf upazila.
A BGB official in the upazila filed the TK 100 crore case with a Cox's Bazar court. Before framing charges, the court asked police to submit a report on November 22. In response, police yesterday submitted the enquiry report, said BGB lawyer Sajjadul Karim.
The court took cognisance of the report and summoned the BLAST worker asking her to appear before it to give her explanation. Muhammad Helal Uddin, senior judicial magistrate (acting) of Teknaf upazila, came up with the order after a hearing on the case, he said.
He alleged that the woman was traveling on a CNG-run auto-rickshaw from Hnila to Teknaf on the morning of October 8 morning, when BGB members at Damdamia check-post tried to check her.
"Identifying herself as an NGO activist, the woman had an arrogant attitude with the BGB members, who, at one stage, checked her forcibly. Then, the woman raised allegations that she was 'gang-raped' by BGB men," Sajjadul claimed.
Earlier BLAST had released a statement refuting that any allegations of rape had been made.
"We have earlier been informed of the allegations of sexual abuse, not rape, at the check-post and have raised our concerns about the need to enquire into such allegations. We have not received any allegations from any staffer regarding 'rape' or 'gang rape' against BGB members and nor, to our knowledge, have such allegations been made to the police or any hospital. We are concerned that press reports included inaccurate statements about the allegations," the NGO said earlier this month.
The woman's lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua expressed astonishment at the nature of the accusation being made against the female NGO worker. "We wonder why they are talking about rape -- we neither claimed that they victim was raped, nor did she allege that," said Barua.
"The hearing is on January 14, 2021, and we will contest this case," he said.
The hospital's resident medical officer (RMO) Shaheen Md Abdur Rahman Chowdhury told this newspaper that her medical test has been completed but the medical officer refused to the results with media. He also said that the report will be submitted before court, if necessary.
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