Family threatened to withdraw case

The criminal who violated 13 yea-old physically challenged Swapna is threatening her family members with death and abduction as they demanded his trial.
“It has become very difficult for me to move out of house as some assailants hired by the rapist and his accomplices have been deployed to kill me”, Swapna's father Panna Shaikh told this correspondent during a visit to their house at Dhukuria village in Sirajganj Sadar Upazila recently.
“I lodged a general dairy again with Sirajganj Sadar police station, but to no effect”, he lamented.
“They (rapist and his associates) are creating pressure to withdraw the case”, he said.
The minor girl was allegedly violated on April 4 last year. Swapna, with the assistance of Action on Disability and Development (ADD), an NGO, lodged a case with Sadar police station the next day accusing Rafiqul Islam, 25, of the same village.
Police nabbed the alleged rapist around eight months after the incident but he was release on bail three days after arrest.
Getting bail, Rafiqul and his accomplices started to press the victim's family to withdraw the case and threatened with death or abduction for noncompliance.
Panna went to police again to seek security of life, but police did nothing except recording a general dairy. Some local influentials tried to arbitrate by offering him money, claimed Panna Shaikh.
Arefa Pervin, Program Associate of ADD, said, “We moved to police station and are ready to fight in court for trail. The culprits are threatening the victim's family for withdrawal of the case”.
Swapna is the eldest of Panna Shaikh's two disabled children. His son Bayozit, 7, is also physically challenged. The girl and the boy can not move without wheelchairs or help by another person.
Panna can not effort better treatment for his two disabled children due to poverty. q