Sexual assault victim dies
Attackers fed her pesticide as she resisted
A woman, mother of a two-year-old daughter, died in a hospital yesterday in Dinajpur's Biral upazila where assailants forced her to ingest pesticide after a failed rape attempt on her on Friday.
An employee at non-government organisation World Vision, Akhi Moni, 20, was an HSC student and also was a teacher at a school operated by Brac, said family members.
Her father, Asaduzzaman from Raghunatpur village in Parbatipur upazila, said her daughter was staying at his house in Madhabbati village of Biral upazila and her husband, Mehdi Hasan Rabbi, left for Dhaka the day before the attack.
Around 12 midnight on April 5, Akhi was home alone as her grandmother had gone outside, he said adding that Tozammel Hossain Toza, 25, son of late Mohsin Ali of the same village, knocked on the door around that time and she opened the door assuming that her grandmother has come home.
Toza then forced into the house and attempted to rape her, he alleged.
Alerted by her screams, neighbours came to her rescue and confined Toza to a room in the house after catching him red-handed.
Toza's brother, UP Chairman Maruf Hossain soon raided the house with his henchmen. Before leaving the house with Toza, they beat up Akhi and forcibly poured pesticide in her month, said Asaduzzaman.
She was rushed to Biral Upazila Health Complex where she died yesterday.
Golam Rasul, officer-in-charge of Biral Police Station, said they sent the body to M Abdur Rahim Medical College Hospital for autopsy and no case was filed in this connection as of yesterday afternoon.
Contacted, Akhi's husband said he was making preparations to file a case.