'47 children raped, abused in 15 days'

A six-year-old girl was allegedly violated and a mother of two was allegedly gang-raped in Jashore and Feni on Tuesday night.

In Jhenidah, a government primary school headmaster was arrested yesterday on charges of sexually harassing three girl students.

In another incident, a woman in Manikganj filed a case on Tuesday night against a local businessman for allegedly raping her repeatedly for four years by threatening and intimidating her in different ways.

Meanwhile, Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) yesterday expressed grave concern over the increasing number of child rape incidents across the country.

At least 47 children were either raped or subjected to attempted rape and sexual harassment in the last 15 days since April 2. Of them, 39 were raped during this period, the rights body said in a statement.

Besides, five children, including a girl, were killed during the same period for different reasons, it added.

MJF Executive Director Shaheen Anam urged the government to take effective measures to ensure safety of women and children.

The organisation also demanded exemplary punishments for those involved in the killing of Feni madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi.

According to statistics of Ain o Salish Kendra, at least 123 children were raped across the country in the first three months of this year.

In Jashore, a priest allegedly raped a girl inside a Hindu temple at Birampur village on Tuesday evening when worship services were underway.

The accused is Prokash Banerjee, priest of Sree Sree Anukul Thakur Mandir, said police.

The victim went to the temple to pray. At one stage, the priest took her to his room and “violated” her, said Ansar Uddin, additional superintendent of Jashore police.

As the girl started to scream, some devotees rushed to the room and rescued her. They also caught the priest.

Police later went to the spot and arrested Prokash.

The girl's mother filed a case with Kotwali Police Station accusing the priest, said the ASP.

In Feni, a mother of two was allegedly gang-raped in Adarshagram area of Sonagazi upazila on Tuesday night.

The woman filed a case with Sonagazi Model Police Station accusing Nur Alam, Md Apel and Mosharraf Hossain.

According to the case statement, the victim's husband stays abroad. The trio used to stalk the woman and even proposed to have illegal relationship with them.

On Tuesday night, the three accused picked up the woman when she went out of her room for using toilet. They took her to a nearby quiet place and “violated” her.

Police have already arrested Nur Alam. Drives are underway to arrest the two other accused.

HEADMASTER HELD IN JHENIDAH

Jhenidah Sadar OC Mizanur Rahman said Abdus Salam, headmaster of Alhera Government Primary School, had been allegedly sexually harassing three students of class-IV for long.

Knowing about it, guardians went to the school around 2:00pm and started beating him up.

On information, police rushed to the school and picked up the teacher. A case was filed against him, the OC added.

BUSINESSMAN ACCUSED OF RAPE

In Manikganj, a woman filed a case against local businessman Mohammad Ali Uzzal, 40, for allegedly raping her repeatedly for four years.

Both the plaintiff and the accused are from Ghior upazila.

According to the case statement, Uzzal used to torture the woman and force her to have physical relationship with other people.

The accused also recorded such scenes on camera and later used it to hush her up. He took Tk 8.25 lakh from the woman threatening that he would circulate the footage. 

The complainant accused that Uzzal also wanted to have sexual relationship with her daughter, a class-eight student.

On Tuesday noon, the accused took the woman and her daughter to a four-storey building in Manikganj town's Uttar Sewta area. He raped the woman and tried to violate her daughter.

Sensing that there was something wrong, some locals entered the building and chased Uzzal. But he managed to flee, leaving his smart phone.

The victim on Tuesday night filed the case against Uzzal and Monira Begum, owner of the building, said Manikganj Sadar OC Rakibuzzaman.

Our Benapole, Jhenidah, Feni and Manikganj correspondents contributed to this report.