Cops reveal identity of rape victim
Savar police disclosed the identity of a rape victim on their Facebook handle yesterday, violating the law and a court verdict.
The district police on Wednesday arrested three men, accused in the case filed over the rape, and posted about it on Facebook.
In the Facebook post, they uploaded the photos of the accused and mentioned all the personal details of the 16-year-old victim.
The Daily Star has obtained a screenshot of the post.
Contacted, Kazi Mainul Islam, officer-in-charge of Savar Model Police Station, said the identity of the rape victim was disclosed "unfortunately".
The post, however, was later edited and the victim's details were removed from it.
Neither police nor anyone else can disclose a rape victim's details in the public domain as it is an offence, said experts.
Salma Ali, human rights activist and the president of Bangladesh National Women's Lawyers Association (BNWLA), said, rape victim' identities cannot be disclosed in any way as it is a punishable offence.
She said, "Police must clearly know this as a law enforcement agency.
"It is also illegal to disclose the identity of the accused, except for incidents where police caught them red-handed."
She further said, "I strongly condemn such irresponsible attitude of the police, and I want to send a legal notice in this regard."
Prof Rasheda Akhtar of Jahangirnagar University's Department of Anthropology said police cannot disclose rape victims' identities on a Facebook post.
Prof Rasheda, who is also the head of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Cell at JU, also said, "It is an offence. If the police do it, they have violated the law."
According to the Facebook post, one Tarek Rahman, 21, Rabbi, 20, and Omit Hassan, 22, were arrested on Wednesday night after the mother of the victim filed a case with Savar Model Police Station in this regard.
According to the case statement, the victim has been working at a garment factory in Savar for the last three months. Tarek and Rabbi are her coworkers.
On June 22, Tarek and Rabbi forcefully took the victim to Tarek's rented room while she was returning from work. Tarek, Rabbi and Omit raped her there and before letting her go, threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the incident.
Later, the victim told her family about the incident after which the mother filed the case.
The victim was sent to the One-Stop Crisis Centre of Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment and medical examination, the OC said.
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