Teenage rape victim pregnant in Dhamrai
UP member held arbitration and collected Tk 1.80 lakh from rapist, victim’s family claims
A 13-year-old girl was raped by a neighbour with the assistance of his wife in Dhaka’s Dhamrai upazila. After the teenage victim became pregnant, local arbiters -- led by a Union Parishad member of Chowhat -- arranged an arbitration and collected Tk 1.80 lakh from the rapist for compensation. However, victim’s family members claim that the money was shared among the arbiters.
Victim’s family members narrated the incident to the officials of Dhamrai Police Station and filed a case on Friday.
After the case was filed, police arrested Rujala Begum, wife of alleged rapist Moksed Ali, 50, for being an accomplice.
According to the case statement, on July 30 this year, Ujala Begum called the victim to her home to watch TV. While the victim was in the house, Moksed Ali raped her. After the incident, the victim was threatened with death; the couple warned her against disclosing the matter to anyone. After that, the girl was raped multiple times by Moksed.
The victim narrated the incident to her family members after she realised that she was pregnant.
When word got out, Faruk Hossen, a member of Chowhat Union Parishad in Dhamrai, and his associates Alamin, Darbar Ali, Chan Mia, Jasim, a local journalist and five-six unknown people arranged arbitration at the victim’s house on October 21. During arbitration, they fined the rapist Tk 1.80 lakh. After receiving the money, the UP member and his associates shared it amongst them without paying victim’s family, the case statement mentioned.
Contacted, Dipok Saha, officer-in-charge of Dhamrai Police Station, said all accused except Rujala Begum have gone into hiding after the case was filed. The victim was sent to One-Stop Crisis Centre of Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday morning, he added.
“We arrested Rujala Begum, wife of the alleged rapist, on Friday evening. Drive is underway to arrest the other accused,” he said.
The Daily Star Could not reach UP member Faruk for comments as he has gone into hiding.
Contacted Parveen Hassan Prity, chairman of Chowhat Union Parishad, said no UP member can act as an arbitrator over a rape incident.
She expressed shock over the incident and demanded just punishment for all involved, including the UP member for holding such arbitration.