DU rape victim identified rapist after his arrest: Rab

The Dhaka University student who was raped and tortured in Dhaka’s Kurmitola area on the night of January 5 has identified the rapist after his arrest.

The rape victim identified him after seeing his photo following his arrest, sources at Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) said.

Earlier, Sarwar-Bin-Quashem, the Rab director (Legal and Media), confirmed The Daily Star about the arrest of the alleged rapist this morning. But detail about the arrest could not be known immediately.

The law enforcers recovered a mobile of the rape victim from the arrestee, a text SMS sent to media by Rab said.

Family members also identified the arrestee as the victim confirmed them seeing photos of Maznu.

A second-year student of Dhaka University was raped and tortured in the capital’s Kurmitola area on the night of January 5. She was walking from Kurmitola bus stop to a friend’s house in a nearby area around 7:30pm on that night.

Soon after getting down from the university bus, someone grabbed her from behind, gagged her and took her to an isolated place nearby. She was raped and tortured there, they said, quoting the victim.

The victim, in her statement to a law enforcement agency, described the rapist as aged between 25 and 30; height around five and a half feet; tan complexion; short hair; and clad in an old pair of jeans and a dirty black jacket.

THE PROTESTS

Students continued demonstrations since the incident took place on January 5 night, demanding arrest of the rapist immediately. They demonstrated at Dhaka University campus and many other educational institutions in other districts.

The demonstrators on the first day of their protest issued a 24-hour ultimatum for arrest of the culprit.

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DU erupts in protest

The students formed human chains, held protest rallies, and paint graffiti on roads to press home their demand.

Covering faces with black cloth, around 50 DU Bangla department students formed a human chain in front of Raju Memorial Sculpture on the campus around 10:30am yesterday.

They demanded capital punishment for the rapist and urged the university administration to ensure security for all its students.

Later around noon, students of the university’s political science department formed a human chain there. The demonstrators also burned an effigy of the rapist.

At another human chain nearby, members of different cultural organisations demanded immediate steps to ensure women’s safety in the capital and elsewhere yesterday.

Fine Arts students painted graffiti on the street from near the gate of Ruqayyah Hall to Raju Memorial Sculpture in the TSC area.

During the protests, DU Chhatra League General Secretary Saddam Hussain, also assistant general secretary of Ducsu, said they submitted a memorandum to Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Monday night, demanding that the culprit be identified in 24 hours.