5-year-old raped by neighbour

A five-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her neighbour in Jashore's Keshabpur upazila on Sunday night.

The victim's mother yesterday filed a case with Keshabpur Police Station against Nazrul Islam, 30, an inhabitant of a village in the upazila, in connection with the rape.

According to the case statement, around 8:00pm on Sunday, the girl was alone at her house yard. Nurul called the girl and took her to a nearby bush and violated her.

When the girl started screaming, locals rushed there, rescued the girl and caught Nurul. Then the villagers asked the victim's family members not to go to the police and assured them of “settling the issue” through arbitration, said the victim's mother.

Finding no move for the arbitration, the mother lodged the case.

Contacted, Md Shaheen, officer-in-charge of Keshabpur Police Station, said police arrested Nurul from his house after the case was filed.

The victim was undergoing treatment at Khulna Medical College Hospital. Her medical tests will be conducted at the hospital when her condition improves, said the OC.

In Mymensingh, police have so far arrested three out of seven accused for allegedly gang-raping an eighth grader in Ishwarganj upazila on Saturday night.

Police are conducting drives to arrest the other accused, said Ahmed Kabir Hossain, OC of Ishwarganj Police Station.

Yesterday, the victim was admitted to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital for medical tests.

Besides, the three arrestees were produced before a Mymensingh court in the afternoon and the court sent them to jail, said the OC.

The schoolgirl, 14, of Kishoreganj Sadar upazila, lives in Dhaka. She was returning to Dhaka from her village home by train on Saturday afternoon.

Quoting the victim, the OC said as she found no direct train from Kishoreganj to Dhaka, the girl was travelling in a Mymensingh-bound local train to catch a Dhaka-bound train from Mymensingh town.

But she got off the train at Sohagi Railway Station in Ishwarganj in the evening. She then went to Ishwarganj Railway Station to get on a Mymensingh-bound train, the police official said.

As night grew, she did not get any train to travel to Mymensingh town. She was moving around the Ishwarganj station.

Around 11:00pm, a local youth named Sujan Mia offered her an overnight stay at his house. Finding no other way, the girl agreed to go with him, the OC added.

Sujan and five to six other youths raped the girl throughout the night at the house and drove her out of the house on Sunday morning.

Locals found the girl in Ishwarganj station area critically injured and informed police of the matter. Police later rescued the girl.

On Sunday night, the victim's mother lodged a case with Ishwarganj Police Station, accusing seven people, including the arrestees.

Our Benapole and Mymensingh correspondents contributed to this report.