Tk 1.15 lakh 'settlement' over 'rape'
A “settlement” has been reached over an alleged rape in Thakurgaon through village arbitration that ordered the “rapist” to pay the victim's family Tk 1.15 lakh in compensation.
The arbitrators have also requested the family not to file a case against the alleged rapist as he was from “an influential and well-off family”, local sources said.
Speaking to The Daily Star on Wednesday, chairman of Akcha Union Parishad (UP) Subrata Kumar Barman said that on September 5, Mamtajul Islam, 19, son of Quaium Islam from Boikanthapur village, promising marriage, took the girl, a ninth grader and also a neighbour to Mamtajul, to Chitagaon Park where he “raped” her.
The girl told her mother about the incident when she returned home, he added.
The victim's father then went to Subrata to find a solution to the matter, who advised the family to either file a case with Thakurgaon Police Station or place an official complaint to him.
However, the family took neither of the steps, the chairman said.
Seeking anonymity, a UP member on Tuesday told The Daily Star that as the news of the incident spread across the area, several locally influential people with political backgrounds, including Shafiqul Islam, Ismail, Abdul Jalil, Iajudding, and Shajahan, on Saturday, organised the arbitration at the victim's house. The alleged rapist's family was also present there.
The arbitrators “settled the matter” by asking Mamtajul's family to pay Tk 1.15 lakh to the victim's family, who, on the other hand, was requested not to file a case in this connection or acknowledge the incident as Mamtajul's family “was influential”, he said.
Altafur Rahman, 32, a villager, on Tuesday told The Daily Star that he heard from others that the arbitrators took Tk 3 lakh from Mamtajul's family on Sunday, from which Tk 1.15 lakh was given to the victim's family and the rest was split amongst them.
Officer-in-Charge of Thakurgaon Police Station Abdul Latif Mia told The Daily Star that he is yet to receive a complaint in this regard.
The victim's father, when visited on Tuesday, chose not to make any comment about the incident while Shafiqul Islam, the main arbitrator, when contacted on the same day, refused to make a comment and stopped receiving this correspondent's phone calls afterwards.
Mamtajul and his family were not found when their house was visited.
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