Man sent to jail over rape allegation

A man was sent to jail on charges of raping a 12-year-old girl at Sherpur’s Sreebordi upazila on Wednesday.

Locals said Akram Hossain, 40, raped the fourth grader inside a madrasa on Eid day. Hearing her scream, they rushed to the scene, caught Akram, and handed him over to police.

The victim’s father filed a case the same day.

“Akram confessed to raping the child during primary interrogation. He was sent to jail after being produced before court on Thursday,” said Ruhul Amin Talukder, officer-in-charge (OC) of Sreebordi Police Station.

Citing case details, he said the victim’s family had come to their village from Dhaka to celebrate Eid. Around 2:30pm, Akram, who was a neighbour, allured the girl with biscuits to rape her.

Another rape incident was reported from Rajshahi’s Godagari upazila the same day.

Police arrested Fuad Hossain, 28, for attempting to rape a woman from “Orao” indigenous community in Guni village.

Locals said Fuad attacked the victim while she was feeding cattle on a field around 10:30am. He came from neighbouring village Dhatma.

Hearing the victim scream, her husband and locals went to the spot and caught Fuad. They beat him up and kept him confined, said Joy Kishore, a leader of the minority community.

A few hours later, Fuad’s men came from Dhatma village and swooped on them. They took Fuad along with them and had him admitted at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.

Godagari police OC Zahangir Alam said police had arrested Fuad from the hospital later that night. Quoting the detainee, he said, “Fuad said the indigenous people stabbed his genitals.”

Asked about this, Joy said the mob did not use any weapon while giving Fuad a beating.

“The victim filled a case against Fuad the same day. Tension has been growing between the Oraos and the Muslims in the villages since then,” the OC told this paper.