Five sent to jail for raping woman after restraining husband

A Kushtia court sent five people to jail early yesterday on charges of raping a woman after restraining and beating her husband in Bheramara upazila late Saturday night.

The District Judicial Magistrate passed the jail order after police produced the five accused before the court yesterday afternoon, said Abdur Rob Talukder, officer-in-charge of Bheramara Police Station.

The accused are: Kalu Pramanik, 46; Murshid Sheikh, 45; Titu Mondal, alias Tipu, 42; Ejazul, 42; and van driver Rubel Ali, 24. All are residents of Bheramara upazila.

Police arrested them from different parts of the upazila earlier yesterday.

After receiving a call on national emergency hotline 999, a joint team of Bheramara police and Kushtia's Detective Branch conducted overnight raids and arrested them, said Kushtia police in a press release.

The incident took place around 11:00pm Saturday in the Baro Mile area, when the couple was returning home after work on a rickshaw van.

According to police, the group intercepted the van near a litchi orchard and beat up the husband. They then restrained him, while 3-4 of them dragged the woman into the orchard and raped her.

Kushtia Superintendent of Police Mizanur Rahman told The Daily Star, "We got a 999 call where a woman claimed she had been raped. Based on her complaint, we arrested five individuals."

The woman is currently undergoing medical treatment.

Additional SP Foisal Ahmed said a case has been filed against the arrestees under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, 2000.

OC Abdur Rob said the court sent them to jail after recording their confessional statement under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.