Dr Md Khalil Ullah, the superintendent of Noakhali General Hospital, gave the confirmation to our local correspondent this afternoon.
“The test report will be handed over to police today,” he said.
The woman who is a mother of four, was gang raped allegedly by 10-12 ruling party Awami League men on the midnight of election day.
News of her rape has rocked Bangladesh, sparking protests in Dhaka and elsewhere and drawn condemnations all over the social media.
RUHUL AMIN ARRESTED
Since the incident four days ago, five people have been arrested so far including the key accused and “the man who ordered the rape” Ruhul Amin.
In the early hours today, police in separate drives arrested two people including a local Awami League leader from Shenbagh and Sadarupazilas of Noakhali.
The arrestees are Ruhul Amin, former member of Charjubli union parishad and also publicity affairs secretary of Subarnachar unit of Awami League, and Ibrahim Khalil Bechu, said Nizam Uddin, officer-in-charge of Char Jabbar Police Station.
OC Nizam said, “We made the arrest as we found Ruhul’s involvement with the rape incident though his name was not included in the case”.
Law enforcers arrest Ruhul Amin, publicity affairs secretary of Subarnachar unit of Awami League, and Ibrahim Khalil Bechu in connection with a rape incident in Noakhali on Thursday, January 3, 2019. Photo grabbed from a video footage.
Earlier, police arrested Badsha Alam from Charbajuli on Tuesday while prime accused Sohel from Cumilla district and Md Swapan from Ramgati upazila yesterday.
WHAT HAPPENED ON THAT DAY?
The 35-year-old woman said some 10-12 men carrying sticks entered her home by cutting the surrounding fence after the midnight on December 31. They tied her CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver husband and four children with ropes.
“They took me outside and raped me,” she said adding that 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.
Soon after the alleged rapists left, the victim's husband and children cried for help. At this, the neighbours came and rescued them.”
“At first, a village doctor was called. But as she [the victim] was still bleeding, she was taken to Noakhali General Hospital at noon,” said one of the neighbours, wishing anonymity.
Shyamol Kumar Devnath, of the emergency department at the hospital, said they found evidence of rape. There were also injury marks on different parts of the body, he said.
The husband said the victim went to cast her vote at Char Jubilee-14 Government Primary School centre around 11:00am on Sunday. She took the ballot paper from the assistant presiding officer and went to a booth.
During that time, Ruhul, an Awami League man, allegedly insisted her to 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.
WHAT DID THE VICTIM SAY ABOUT REASON BEHIND THE INCIDENT?
The 35-year-old woman, who was being treated at Noakhali General Hospital with severe injuries, claimed that she was raped for voting for “sheaf of paddy”, the electoral symbol of the BNP, during Sunday's national polls.
The woman alleged the rapists were accomplices of Ruhul Amin. “They had repeatedly insisted that I should vote for boat [the AL's symbol] but I cast my ballot for 'sheaf of paddy',” she said.
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Condition of the sixth grader gangraped in Bhola on August 11 has slightly improved as the bleeding stopped yesterday.
But she is still in pain and is given pain killers, said Bilkis Begum, coordina-tor of One Stop Crisis Centre at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Meanwhile, her brother told The Daily Star yesterday that his family was feeling insecure and threatened because the brother of an accused rapist told people that he would take revenge for his brother’s death in a “shootout”.
“A brother of [rape accused] Manjur told people that his brother was killed because of us. So, they will take revenge one day. We are feeling in-secure,” he said.
He added that rape accused Al Amin and Manjur Alam, who were killed in a “shootout” with officers on Wednesday, had links with many powerful people in the area.
Police also said the two had been accused earlier of drug dealing.
The 12-year-old girl was brought to the DMCH early Thursday after doc-tors at multiple hospitals in Bhola and Barishal failed to stop the bleeding from her private parts. Doctors said she needed 22 stitches for wounds to her private parts and there were numerous cuts in her toes and back.
The girl of Bhola town was raped at her neighbour and aunt’s house when she went there to have mehendi on her arms on the eve of Eid. As she was waiting at the veranda of the house for her aunt, Al Amin, 27, a ten-ant of the building, gagged her with a strip of cloth and forced her into his room, police said.
Amin and his associate Manjur Alam, 25, then tied her up and raped her, they added.
Another young man named Jamal Akand has been accused of assisting the duo in the crime, said Sagir Mia, officer-in-charge of Bhola Sadar Police Station.
Her father filed a case accusing the trio. Jamal was sent to jail.
Non-profit Coast Trust has been assisting the girl’s family in bearing the treatment and legal costs.
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There is currently a huge Awami League-shaped hole in Bangladesh's electoral politics, so BNP trying to dive headlong into it comes as no surprise. Since Sheikh Hasina's fall on August 5, BNP has had to navigate a delicate tightrope—balancing its ambition to return to power with the pressure to support popular demands for state reforms. The party doesn't want to risk the ire of the very students that ousted its arch-rival, potentially putting it in pole position to win the next election. But reforms take time, something it doesn't have plenty of after nearly two decades of wait. And the grassroots are getting impatient.
"Impatient" is perhaps an understatement for what has unfolded over the past month and a half. A more fitting description would be a chaotic transformation of a party getting used to having things its way. As BNP-affiliated leaders, activists, and professional groups scramble to fill the void left by Awami League, we are getting an early preview of the making of another regime—and it's nothing short of disturbing.
For example, since August 5, at least 14 BNP members have lost their lives, eight of them in factional clashes. The most recent murder occurred on Friday in Chattogram's Changaon area, where a Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal activist was fatally stabbed during a clash between rival factions. On the same day, heavy clashes between two BNP-linked groups in Chandpur left at least 30 people injured. On Sunday, a similar clash in Narayanganj left at least 12 injured, followed by another in Kushtia two days later, injuring 10 more. These violent power struggles, often revolving around the control of extortion rackets, have become disturbingly common. In that, the BNP grassroots seem to be re-enacting scenes from Awami League's time in power which, too, was plagued by factional infighting, with over 150 of its leaders and activists killed in mostly turf wars since the 2018 election.
Over the past weeks, reports have also emerged of BNP leaders and activists taking over slums, footpaths, transport hubs, extortion rackets across various markets and informal businesses, and even former Awami League offices. Meanwhile, in the civil service, there have been allegations against BNP-affiliated groups trying to influence promotions, placements, public contracts, etc.
Officially, the party is against such practices. Tarique Rahman, the acting chairman, recently warned that BNP will not tolerate any reckless actions by "misguided" individuals that could harm "the trust and love" it has earned through "years of struggle, sacrifice, and perseverance." He urged party members to "identify and resist" those tarnishing BNP's image, emphasising its commitment to not only expelling such individuals but also taking "legal action" against them.
These warnings coupled with occasional disciplinary measures, however, have proven insufficient to deter errant party supporters, which suggests two things: either those were not strict or convincing enough, or the party is not trying hard enough. Both scenarios are likely in an environment of patronage politics that has long been the mainstay of our political culture. This system of patronage begins at grassroots with the capture of extortion rackets or other undue benefits by political thugs, and culminates with systemic regulatory capture by vested interest groups, all of which serves as an incentive for them to keep working for a party. Barring exceptions, the prospect or promise of mutual gain largely governs the relationship between major parties and their supporters.
BNP, for all its pro-reform posturing in the aid of the interim government, has yet to demonstrate a real willingness to dismantle this corrupt system. While, to be fair, it has shown some signs of remaking itself as a party with a more open political ethos, the revolutionary times that we are living through demand much more.
Ironically, Awami League's ouster through a bloody uprising has stripped BNP of two key advantages that it could have used in an election campaign: anti-incumbency bias, and public sympathy for the repression it had endured. In an alternate reality where those factors still mattered, BNP could have expected Gen Z—with no lived memory of its 2001-06 rule—to support it unquestioningly, and older generations to accept it as the lesser of two evils. The problem is, the new generation has shown a political maturity beyond their years, and to win them over, BNP now must offer something genuinely new.
Ironically, Awami League's ouster through a bloody uprising has stripped BNP of two key advantages that it could have used in an election campaign: anti-incumbency bias, and public sympathy for the repression it had endured. In an alternate reality where those factors still mattered, BNP could have expected Gen Z—with no lived memory of its 2001-06 rule—to support it unquestioningly, and older generations to accept it as the lesser of two evils. The problem is, the new generation has shown a political maturity beyond their years, and to win them over, BNP now must offer something genuinely new.
So far, it has been giving mixed signals. On the one hand, it acknowledged that repeating Awami League's mistakes could lead to the same fate for itself, stressing the importance of understanding the shift in people's mind-sets. On the other hand, it continues to call for elections as soon as possible. Its rhetoric surrounding the student-led mass movement, trying to co-opt it as its own, and its suggestion that long-term reforms should be left to an elected government also reveal glaring contradictions. Perhaps the army chief's recent statement—in which he vowed to back the interim government "come what may" to possibly ensure elections within the next 18 months—will prompt BNP to reassess its approach. While expecting an election roadmap is not unreasonable, it must lift its sights beyond its ambition and bring the reform drive to its own doorsteps.
At 46, BNP is in need of renewal, and the sooner it realises this, the better. As the largest party in the country now, it has a responsibility not just to its leaders and activists but to the entire political landscape. To truly demonstrate that it remains in tune with the spirit of the mass uprising, BNP needs to lead by example and undertake the following initiatives.
First, it must help dismantle the patronage system by making it clear to party leaders and supporters that BNP politics will henceforth offer no undeserved benefits, and anyone using its name for such purposes will be met with swift punishment. Second, it should ask its loyalist groups within the civil service to stop influencing decisions, or risk being blacklisted. Third, it should establish a democratic, secular, and gender-inclusive party structure, and have a high-powered committee constantly check erosion of these values in party activities. Fourth, it should bring clarity on its finances by making the names of its donors public and conducting internal audits of assets held by party leaders. Fifth, it should control its grassroots leaders and activists, preventing infighting and any criminality through strict enforcement of disciplinary measures.
Sixth, it should comply with the Representation of the People Order (RPO) clause that prohibits political parties from having affiliated student or teacher organisations. Over the years, political parties, including BNP, have bypassed this law on mere technicalities, passing their student wings off as "brotherly" or "associate" organisations, thus enabling crimes and hegemonic practices that led not only to a deep distrust of student politics but also unimaginable sufferings.
There can be many other reforms that are necessary. What BNP can do to remake itself in line with the spirit of the mass uprising can be the topic of a discussion that the party should itself encourage for its own benefit.
Just before the January 7, 2024 election, I wrote an article titled "Can BNP survive the pre-election meltdown?" amid heavy crackdowns by Awami League. I guess the question now is, can BNP fulfil the post-uprising expectations? After all, if political parties do not break free from their long-entrenched monopolistic and authoritarian attitudes, changing the constitution and implementing other state reforms cannot prevent future regimes from turning dictatorial again. BNP has a historic responsibility in this regard.
Badiuzzaman Bay is an assistant editor at The Daily Star.
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
The prime accused of the latest “gang rape” in Noakhali's Subarnachar upazila surrendered before a court today.
Abul Kalam alias Bechu Majhi, 40, the prime accused in the case filed over the rape of a mother of six, surrendered before the Cognisance Court of Judge Nobonita Guha seeking bail this morning, three days after the incident.
The judge denied bail and sent him to jail, our Noakhali correspondent reports.
Later, the same court granted three days and two days remand for two others accused -- Abul Bashar and Yusuf Majhi -- respectively in the case.
With Abul Kalam's surrender, a total of six accused in the case are now behind bars.
The 48-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped in Noakhali's Subarnachar upazila on Sunday evening over “campaigning for an upazila vice chairman candidate”.
The victim's husband had filed a case with Char Jabbar Police Station on Monday, accusing 12 people, including four unnamed.
Resident Medical Officer of Noakhali General Hospital Syed Mohiuddin Abdul Azim said yesterday that the victim underwent all the required medical tests.
It may take some time to prepare the final reports, he added.
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.
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The law enforcers today arrested three staffers of a bus in connection with an incident of gang-rape on a running bus in Bhogra area of Gazipur.
The arrestees are Amir Hossain (27), Amit Shil (22) and Mozammel (23), reports our Gazipur correspondent quoting police.
The arrestees have confessed to the crimes after they were produced before a Gazipur court, said Nandalal Chowdhury, inspector (investigation) of Bason Police Station under Gazipur Metropolitan Police.
The accused were sent to jail after recording of their confessional statement, he said.
The incident took place on February 12 midnight near Bhogra Bridge area on Dhaka Bypass Road, the police official said.
The victim and another woman boarded the bus from Tongi to go to Gazipur. Near Bhogra intersection on the road, the other passengers were dropped leaving the two women alone. As they tried to get off the bus, the staffers closed the door and tied up the older woman and violated the other, threatening to kill them if they protested.
Next morning, the culprits left the women on the bus and fled the scene. Locals later rescued the women after hearing their screams.
On information, police seized the bus and conducted a drive in the city and arrested the trio from different areas.
The victim's companion filed a case in connection with the incident with the police station on Thursday.
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History has a way of repeating itself, often with different actors but the same tragic plotlines. The fall of Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government has left behind a political landscape harshly familiar to students of history and political psychology. The party's steadfast refusal to acknowledge its mistakes, its insistence on conspiracy theories, and its remorseless demeanour all indicate a textbook case of cognitive dissonance. As the pioneering social psychologist Leon Festinger argued, when confronted with overwhelming evidence contradicting deeply held beliefs, people do not necessarily change their views; instead, they double down.
Festinger's seminal work on cognitive dissonance explains the mental discomfort experienced when reality clashes with pre-existing beliefs. In the 1950s, he infiltrated a doomsday cult whose members were convinced the world would end on a specific date. When the prophecy failed, rather than admitting their mistake, the cultists rationalised their beliefs by claiming their faith had saved the world. This pattern, where individuals or groups faced with disconfirming evidence refuse to accept reality, is now on full display in the Awami League.
For more than 15 years, Sheikh Hasina and her party built a political fortress based on dominance, authoritarian tendencies, and the erosion of democratic institutions. Opposition parties were crushed, the media muzzled, and electoral mechanisms hijacked to perpetuate her rule. When the walls of this fortress crumbled under the weight of mass protests, Hasina and her followers did not introspect. Instead, they sought solace in an alternative narrative: their downfall was not due to popular outrage but rather an international conspiracy.
The Greek concept of hubris—the excessive pride that leads to downfall—perfectly encapsulates the Awami League's attitude. Political scientist Graham Allison's theory of organisational failure suggests that when institutions become too entrenched in their ways, they resist necessary adaptation even in the face of imminent collapse.
This is evident in Hasina's unchanging rhetoric, even after her government was ousted. Leaked phone conversations reveal her solid belief that she was the victim of a grand design. Despite evidence that her government's mishandling of the student-led movement resulted in mass casualties, Hasina and her exiled ministers refuse to acknowledge any wrongdoing. This is not merely political stubbornness but a deeper psychological need to avoid self-recrimination.
Philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre argued that people avoid self-reflection because it forces them to confront their own responsibility. If Hasina were to admit that her government collapsed due to internal corruption, misgovernance, and public outrage, she would have to struggle with a lifetime of political miscalculations. The easier option, as cognitive dissonance theory suggests, is to alter the narrative.
Political history is rife with examples of leaders who refused to accept responsibility for their downfall. US President Richard Nixon, after Watergate, remained convinced that he was the victim of a media-driven witch hunt. In more recent history, Donald Trump's continued insistence that the 2020 US presidential election was stolen shows a similar psychological mechanism at play.
The Awami League's strategy of non-apology serves a dual purpose. Firstly, it provides a coping mechanism for its leaders and supporters, many of whom have invested their careers and reputations in the party's narrative. Admitting failure would be personally and professionally devastating. Secondly, by externalising blame, the party keeps alive the possibility of a political resurgence. If the narrative remains that the Awami League was unjustly removed rather than rightfully ousted, its leaders can mobilise support on the promise of a return to power.
However, this strategy carries long-term risks. Philosopher Hannah Arendt, in her analysis of totalitarian regimes, observed that when political parties rely on manufactured narratives to sustain their existence, they become increasingly disconnected from reality. The more the Awami League insists that it was the victim of a grand conspiracy, the less likely it is to engage in the necessary reforms to regain public trust. In a democracy, no party can survive indefinitely without a genuine social contract with its citizens.
One of the most revealing aspects of the Awami League's downfall is the reaction of its grassroots activists. Many have gone into hiding, not because they were part of the violent suppression of protests, but because they feel abandoned. These were the foot soldiers who once championed the party's cause, only to find themselves leaderless in its darkest hour.
Political theorist Antonio Gramsci wrote extensively about how political movements sustain themselves through "organic intellectuals" at the grassroots level. These are the local leaders, student activists, and community organisers who serve as the bridge between ideology and the masses. However, when a party's leadership becomes too insular and removed from ground realities, this bridge collapses.
The Awami League's grassroots members now face an internal dilemma: do they continue to defend a leadership that refuses to acknowledge them, or do they begin seeking alternative political affiliations? This is where cognitive dissonance becomes an individual as well as a collective phenomenon. For years, these activists believed they were part of a righteous cause. The reality that their leaders abandoned them in exile creates a painful internal contradiction, one that can only be resolved in two ways: either by continuing to believe in the party despite its failures, or by breaking away and facing an uncertain political future.
Acknowledging mistakes is not a sign of weakness; it is a prerequisite for political rehabilitation. Countries with strong democratic traditions have seen fallen parties regain public trust by embracing self-reform. Germany's Social Democratic Party, after years of political decline, rebounded by admitting past mistakes and adjusting its policies. Even in Bangladesh's own history, parties that have embraced change have managed to return to relevance.
Charles Darwin famously stated, "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." If the Awami League wishes to remain politically relevant, it must recognise this fundamental truth. Denial, conspiracy theories, and deflecting responsibility may serve as temporary shields against the pain of political loss, but they do not constitute a long-term strategy for survival.
H. M. Nazmul Alam is an academic, journalist, and political analyst. He can be reached at [email protected].
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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