Rape of 4 in Ctg: Police admit failure to deal with case

Police yesterday admitted that they failed to timely record as well as begin investigation into the rape of four women of a family during a robbery in Chittagong's Karnaphuli upazila on December 13.

"We have partially failed to handle it with proper attention soon after the incident," said Harun-Ur-Rashid Hazari, deputy commissioner (port zone) of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, while addressing a press briefing at Karnaphuli Police Station.

"It's a sensational issue and police were supposed to take it more seriously."

The observations came amid the allegation that officer-in-charge of Karnaphuli Police Station had refused to record the case against suspects.

Asked about the allegation against OC Sayedul Mostafa, the DC said, “I will inform the CMP commissioner of my findings.”

Harun claimed that the plaintiff, brother-in-law of three of the victims, went to the police station two to three days after the incident and informed the OC of the robbery verbally without mentioning the incident of rape. He also mentioned the name of his village Borauthan. 

The OC asked him to go to Patiya Police Station as Borauthan village was under the jurisdiction of that station, the DC said.

DC Harun also said, “We are yet to get the victims' medical test reports. However, doctors told us that evidence of rape was found on two of the victims.

"When I asked the victims about the rape incident, they told me that they had taken baths and washed their clothes the next morning. People do not know that evidence of rape should be preserved."

Replying to a query as to why police did not seek remand for the arrestees, Assistant Commissioner (Karnaphuli zone) Jahedul Islam said they preferred to hold Test Identification (TI) Parade before seeking remands for suspects as it helped them glean information.

At yesterday's briefing, Arefin Jewel, additional deputy commissioner (port zone) of the CMP, said police were investigating the case and that they needed time to find out the culprits. "And you [journalists] should help us in this regard.”

Contacted, complainant of the case yesterday told The Daily Star that Karnaphuli police had showed negligence in recording the case when they first went to the police station.

But he refrained from answering the question whether he had mentioned his village name properly during his first visit to the police station. 

In the early hours of December 13, four women -- three expatriates' wives and their sister-in-law -- were raped by four robbers in Shahmirpur village of Karnaphuli upazila. The criminals also took away Tk 87,000 in cash and gold ornaments worth Tk 3.5 lakh from the house.

Family members of the victims and local lawmaker alleged that OC Sayedul Mostafa refused to record the case twice and was forced to record the complaint four days after the incident following the intervention of local lawmaker and State Minster for Land Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed.

Police have so far arrested three suspects in connection with the incident.

Of the three, Md Sumon alias Abu has been identified by the victims. His TI parade will be held on December 28.

Locals of Karnaphuli had held demonstrations, demanding removal of the OC for his "negligence".