A mother of six, aged about 48, was allegedly gang-raped in Noakhali's Subarnachar upazila on Sunday evening over “campaigning for an upazila vice chairman candidate”.

The incident happened barely three months after a mother of four was gang-raped by 10-12 people in the same area allegedly for voting for “sheaf of paddy” in the December 30 national election.

Police arrested two people yesterday after the victim's husband had filed a case with Char Jabbar Police Station, accusing 12 people, including four unnamed. The arrestees are Abul Basher and Bechu Majhi, both accused in the case.

Talking to The Daily Star at Noakhali General Hospital, the woman said, “During the polling hours on Sunday, a group of supporters of vice chairman candidate Farhad Hossain Chowdhury Bahar threatened me and my husband with dire consequences as we campaigned for his rival candidate Tajuddin Babar.” 

Fearing an attack, the couple took shelter at a relative's house in Bagga village after casting their votes.

But they became worried about their children as a storm hit the village in the evening. The couple decided to go home, about five kilometres away from there, on a motorbike.

As they travelled around half of the distance, 10-12 supporters of vice-chairman candidate Farhad, including Yusuf Majhi, Arman, Helal, Bechu Majhi, Fazal, Abul Bashar, Rubel, Bazlu and Raihan, intercepted them around 7:30pm and beat them severely, the couple alleged.

At one stage, Bechu Majhi, Bazlu and Abul Bashar took the victim to a banana orchard inside the fish farm of Ruhul Amin, the alleged mastermind behind the gang-rape of the mother of four, and violated her.

Hearing screams for help, locals rushed to the spot and sent the victim to Noakhali General Hospital. The “rapists” managed to escape.

Farhad and Tajuddin, both supporters of ruling Awami League, said the rapists were criminals and didn't belong to any political party.

Claiming that the woman was violated for voting for him, Tajuddin demanded exemplary punishments for the rapists.

Farhad, winner of the Sunday's polls, had contested with the electoral symbol “padlock” while his contender Tajuddin with “spectacle”.

Syed Mohiuddin Azim, resident physician of Noakhali General Hospital, said the woman and her husband were admitted to the hospital.

The women's body bore injury marks and a medical test would be conducted on her to ascertain whether she was raped, he added.

Police later visited the spot.

Shahed Uddin, OC of Char Jabbar Police Station, claimed the gang rape had no links with the polls. “We have learned primarily that the incident took place over a family feud.”

According to Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), a total of 189 women and children were raped in the last three months. Of them, 15 were killed and three others died by suicide after being raped.

The rights body in its report, published on Sunday, also said 34 women became victim of attempted rape during the same period.

Police have arrested four juvenile gang members for their alleged involvement in the gang rape of two teenage girls at Ashulia in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka.

All the arrestees are below the age of 18, reports our correspondent quoting Md Kamruzzaman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Ashulia police station.

The OC, however, did not divulge the identities of the arrestees for the sake of the ongoing investigation, he claimed.

On information that two teenage girls got raped by gang members recently, a team of police conducted a drive at Vadail area of Ashulia and made the arrest today, the OC informed.

The OC said they are investigating the allegation of filming the gang incidents and leaking it on social media.

"The two rape survivors are friends. One of the victim's friends said they were employed at a factory in Ashulia and paid a visit at Ashulia's Vadail area around a month ago. 12 to 14 youths belonging to Prince Kishore gang grabbed them and took them to a remote place nearby and gang raped them there," the OC said, quoting a male friend who was a close friend to the victims.

They also filmed the incident and leaked it on social media, which forced the two teenage girls to return to their respective villages after leaving their jobs.

The male friend of the victims was also beaten by the gang members after the gang-rape.

As the videos of the incident leaked, Akbar Ali, father of Saruf, head of the teenage gang, tried to conceal the issue through local influential persons by providing money to the victims' family, but failed.

Police yesterday arrested one more accused in connection with the gang-rape of a mother of four in Noakhali's  Subarnachar upazila early December 31.

A team of the district detective branch arrested Salahuddin, the ninth accused in the rape case, from Sultanpur area in Feni Sadar in the morning.

With Salahuddin, eight people have so far been arrested in the case filed by the husband of the 35-year-old victim.

Meantime, a Noakhali court yesterday placed seven people, including a former Awami League leader, on five-day remand each in connection with the case.

Judge of Cognisance Court-2 Nobonita Guha passed the order after police produced them before it around 1pm with seven days remand prayer for each of them, said Ibrahim Khalil, inspector (investigation) of Char Jabbar Police Station and also the investigation officer of the case. 

The remanded accused are Md Sohel, Swapan, Ibrahim Khalil Bechu, Badsha Alam Bashu, former union parishad member and recently sacked Subarnachar Upazila unit AL publicity secretary Ruhul Amin, Jashim Uddin and Hasan Ali Bulu.

Though Ruhul Amin, Hasan Ali Bulu and Jashim Uddin were not named in the FIR (first information report), police arrested them as their involvement was revealed during the course of investigation, police said.

The woman, who was being treated at Noakhali General Hospital with severe injuries, claimed that she was raped by 10 to 12 accomplices of Ruhul Amin at his instruction for voting for “sheaf of paddy”, the electoral symbol of BNP.

Awami League on Saturday expelled Ruhul Amin from the party for his alleged involvement in the gang-rape.

The case was handed over to the Detective Branch (DB) for further investigation.

The Awami League yesterday expelled Ruhul Amin from the party for his alleged involvement in the gang-rape of a woman in Noakhali's Subarnachar upazila.

The decision came two days after police arrested Ruhul, the publicity affairs secretary of Subarnachar AL, on charge of ordering his accomplices to rape the mother of four for voting for the “sheaf of paddy” -- the BNP's electoral symbol -- in Sunday's election.

Also read: Two more held over Noakhali gang rape

Golam Faruk, president of Subarnachar AL, confirmed the expulsion.

Meanwhile, a delegation of Jatiya Oikyafront, led by BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, yesterday visited the victim, who is now undergoing treatment at Noakhali Sadar Hospital. They assured her of staying by her side.

The 35-year-old woman was gang-raped in Subarnachar area in the early hours of December 31, allegedly by 10 to 12 AL activists.

According to the victim, the men entered her home by cutting the fence around her house. They then tied her husband and four children with ropes, after which they took the woman outside the house and raped her.

The victim also said the rapists threatened to kill her husband and children and torch their house if she told anyone about the rape.

The victim's husband, who was also injured, said the criminals left around 4:00am after beating his wife unconscious and taking Tk 40,000, some gold ornaments and other valuables with them.

The husband said the victim went to cast her vote around 11:00am on Sunday.

During that time, Ruhul allegedly insisted that she vote for the “boat”. He allegedly tried to snatch the ballot paper as she said she would vote for the “sheaf of paddy”. But the victim put the paper inside the box.

This made Ruhul furious and he threatened her, he said.

Talking to The Daily Star, the victim's brother-in-law said the woman had threatened him back.

After the rape incident, the victim's husband filed a case against nine people.

Police have so far arrested four -- Ibrahim Khalil Bechu, Badsha Alom Bashu, Sohel and Swapan.

Besides, police arrested three more people -- Ruhul Amin, Jasim Uddin and Hasan Ali Bulu -- after finding their involvement in the rape during primary investigation.

Meanwhile, police yesterday sought a seven-day remand for all seven arrestees, including Ruhul Amin.

A Noakhali court is expected to hear the remand petitions of five arrestees today.

The court would fix the date for hearing the remand petitions for Jasim Uddin and Hasan Ali Bulu later. The two were arrested on Friday and sent to jail yesterday.

The incident has triggered widespread protest and condemnation.

Different organisations yesterday demanded the highest punishment for the accused.

Samajtantrik Mohila Forum yesterday held a rally in front of the Jatiya Press Club in the capital and pressed for the highest punishment of the perpetrators.

The women chapter of Bangladesh Communist Party sought justice for the victim and demanded security for women and minorities across the country.