Five accused of raping girl in Rangamati

A case was filed on Tuesday with a Rangamati court against five people on charges of raping a college student and videotaping the incident.

The victim, of the remote Farua village of Belaichhari upazila, filed the complaint with the court after Belaichhari Police Station refused to accept her case, she alleged.

Judge AM Ismail Hossain of the court took the case into cognisance and ordered the officer in charge of Belaichhari police to register it and begin investigation.

According to the case statement, the student was going to her friend's house on the occasion of the Bizu festival on April 13, when the five accused -- Tanchangya alias Agent, Ranjan Das, Sumanta Chakma, Snehashish Barua and Sujan Das -- obstructed her and raped her under a bridge in Farua union.

They videotaped the incident and threatened to spread it online if she filed a complaint.

The victim further said in the statement that she went to the police station on June 28, five days after Sumanta, Snehashish and Sujan threatened to rape her again. However, the OC of the station turned down the case.

After days of threats and intimidation, the girl finally appealed to the district legal aid office on Tuesday, which advised and helped her to file the case with the court.

Asked about his refusal to file the case, Mohammad Alamgir, OC of Belaichhari Police Station, said, "I needed to verify the authenticity of the case since the local headman of the village had come to file the case, and that too more than two months after the incident."

He, however, claimed he was the one who told the victim's family to go to the court.

"Why would I turn them down?" he asked.

Salima Wahida, lawyer for the complainant, said, "The accused were putting pressure on her from all fronts to ensure she did not file the case and they also threatened to rape her again … We will try to bring her justice as soon as possible."