Man held for raping four children in Dhamrai

Police on Sunday arrested a man from Dhaka’s Dhamrai upazila on charge of raping four children.

The arrestee is Afshar Uddin, 55.

One of the victims’ family members filed a case against Afshar on Sunday, said Dipok Saha, officer-in-charge (OC) of Dhamrai Police Station.

Law enforcers arrested Afshar from his residence and produced him before a Dhaka court yesterday, seeking a seven-day remand, he said.

The hearing did not take place, however, and he was sent to jail.

The children, aged between five and nine, were sent to the One-Stop Crisis Centre of Dhaka Medical College Hospital for medical examination.

Quoting victims’ families, OC Dipok said on Thursday evening, the accused first took the children to a room of his house, luring them with candy. He then raped the children after taking them to the rooftop one by one. As the children started crying, the accused fled the scene.

Later, some neighbours and family members of the victims rushed to the spot and rescued the children, he said.

The incident came to light so late because the victims’ family members at first did not disclose the matter to protect their social image, he added.

Later, the family members went to one Waser Ali, a village arbiter, and disclosed the matter to him. Waser then informed Dhamrai municipality councillor Shaheb Ali, said police.

On information from Ali, police arrested the accused.

SIX ARRESTED IN RAPE CASE OF TWO MINORS IN KHULNA

Two minors were raped in Digholia upazila of Khulna on Thursday. Police arrested six people in this connection on Sunday.

The arrestees are Iman Mollah, 20; Noor Islam, 22; Ramzan, 23; Habibur Rahman, 21; Mahbubur Rahman Sagar, 22; and Ratul Hassan Rabbi, 21.

The main accused -- Limon, 24, and Bappi, 21 -- are on the run.

Father of one of the minors filed a case with Digholia Police Station on Sunday, accusing nine people.

Manosh Ranjon Ghosh, officer-in-charge of Digholia Police Station, told The Daily Star that the incident took place on Thursday around 6pm.

One of the girls went to visit her relative’s house in the upazila that day. She was with the other minor involved in the incident, who is her relative, said OC Manosh, quoting family members.

In the evening, Iman Mollah, a local, took the girls to an orchard, where Limon and Bappi raped them. The other accused helped the rapists, he said.

“After the case was filed, police arrested six of the accused on Sunday night from different places,” said OC Manosh.

The arrestees gave confessional statements after they were produced before a court yesterday. They were then sent to jail, the OC added.

The two victims were sent to the One Stop Crisis Centre of Khulna Medical College Hospital for medical examination yesterday.