Two seventh-graders gang-raped in Madaripur

Two madrasa girls were gang-raped allegedly by four youths at Baligram village in Madaripur's Kalkini upazila on Thursday.

The victims are Class VII students of a local madrasa in the upazila. They hail from the village.

The girls' family members alleged that local Awami League activist Motin Mollah, also former chairman of Baligram union parishad, and Delwar Hossain, sub inspector (SI) of Dashar Police Station, tried to hide the incident, taking Tk 3 lakh as bribe from the families of the rapists through arbitration.

The accused are Shakib Hawlader, 24, Nayan Sarder, 23, Md Hridoy, 22, and Al Amin, 22, of Atipara village in the upazila.

Locals said the youths took the two girls to an abandoned house and raped them on Thursday night. Hearing screams, villagers rushed to the spot and rescued the victims. However, the rapists managed to flee the scene.

The SI and Motin later tried to 'settle' the issue, taking Tk 3 lakh as bribe from the culprits' families through arbitration, they said.

Contacted, Motin said, “The victims' family members came to my house around 1:00am on Friday. But I did not take any money to resolve the problem.”

The SI said he did not take money from anyone on the issue.

Md Golam Kibriya, officer in charge (OC) of the police station, said the victims' families filed a case, accusing the four, and police are raiding different areas to arrest the culprits. 

The victims were sent to Madaripur General Hospital for medical test, he said.

Subrata Kumar Hawlader, superintendent of police, said, "None can settle such a case through arbitration. If any policeman  is found involved in the incident, we will take action against him.”