Jatiya Oikyafront convener Dr Kamal Hossain has expressed deep concern and grief over the rape of a woman in Noakhali's Subarnachar upazila on voting day.

“We are very angry, concerned and grief-stricken over such incident,” Dr Kamal Hossain said a press statement released today.

In the statement, the Gonoforum president also demanded arrest of all the accused in the rape incident and to take legal action against them.

“This incident has violated human and democratic rights, and also threatened the freedom of expression,” he said.  

Citing that it is difficult to imagine such incident in a democratic country, Kamal said people will have to take initiative to avoid repetition of such incident.

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.

WHAT DID THE VICTIM SAY ABOUT REASON BEHIND THE INCIDENT?

The victim, 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.