Tangail rape: 2 key accused remanded

A Tangail court today granted three-day remand against two of the three prime accused in connection with the rape of a female garment worker in a running bus in Madhupur upazila of the district.

The two accused are bus driver Habibur Rahman Nayan and supervisor Rezaul Karim Jewel, reports our Tangail correspondent.

Earlier last night, police arrested Habibur, Rezaul and helper Abdul Khalek Bhutto from different places of the district, said Saleh Mohammed Tanvir, Superintendent of Police in Tangail.

Of the three, Bhutto gave confessional statement before the same court under Section 164 admitting his involvement in the crime.

Earlier, Dhanbari police produced the three before the court of Senior Judicial Magistrate Luna Ferdousi this afternoon seeking five-day remand against each of the accused, said Khan Hasan Mostofa, investigation officer of the case. 

The victim, aged around 23, was returning from a relative's house in Dhanbari upazila of Tangail to her place in Gazipur on a Binimoy Paribahan bus on Friday early morning, police said quoting the victim.

She was the only passenger in the bus that had three staffs on board, including the driver.

Around 6:00am, when the bus was speeding through the Tangail-Mymensingh highway in Madhupur upazila, the transport workers locked the gate and windows.

They also tied her hands and legs and gagged her. Three of the bus staff then took turns to rape the woman before forcing her out of the bus at a desolate place beside the road.

She was later given treatment at Tangail Medical College Hospital, police said.

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Later, the victim’s husband filed a case against nine transport workers, including the three, under Woman and Child Repression Prevention Act with Dhanbari Police Station around 11:45pm the same night.

The other accused are transport worker leaders Elias Hossain, Jalal Uddin Jalu, Selim Uddin, Military Selim, Lavlu Miah and Latif Munshi.

The three bus staffs were made prime accused in the case, while the rest were accused for trying to save the rapists, Mojibor Rahman, officer-in-charge of the police station, told The Daily Star.

The law enforcers are trying to arrest the other six accused, said SP Tanvir at his office this morning.

Dr Rehena Parvin, a gynaecologist at the hospital, told The Daily Star that medical tests of the victim suggest that the woman was raped. “I have already submitted the report.”

Meanwhile, Mir Lutfar Rahman Lalju, general secretary of Tangail District Road Transport Workers’ Union, told The Daily Star that the three arrested bus workers were expelled from the union.