Savar police’s Facebook post discloses identity of rape victim

Police arrested three youths on charge of raping a 16-year-old at Savar last night.

After that, Savar police disclosed identities of the victim and the three accused from a Facebook account called "Savar Model Thana Dhaka" (in Bangla).

Police also posted a photograph of all the accused and details of the rape incident, our local correspondent reports.

However, identity of the victim was later removed when some journalists brought it to the attention of officers of the police station. The Daily Star has obtained a screenshot of the Facebook post.

According to experts, disclosing the identity of a rape victim is an offence.

Dr Rasheda Akhtar, professor of Department of Anthropology of Jahangirnagar University, also head of Anti-Sexual Harassment Cell at JU, told The Daily Star, "Police can't reveal the victim's identity in a Facebook post. It is an offence. If police do that, they also violated the law."

Contacted, Kazi Mainul Islam, officer-in-charge of Savar Model Police Station, said that the incident was "unfortunate". But later they removed the victim's identity after he learned that it is an offence, he said.

According to the Facebook post, three youths -- Tarek Rahman (21), Rabbi (20), and Omit Hassan (22) -- were arrested last night after mother of the victim filed a rape case with the police station.

According to case statement, the victim has been working at a garment factory in Savar for the last three months. Tarek and Rabbi are her co-workers. On June 22, Tarek and Rabbi forcefully took the victim to Tarek's rented room while she was returning from work. Tarek, Rabbi and Omit raped her there and before letting her go, they threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the incident. Later, the victim told her family about the incident.

The victim was sent to the One-Stop Crisis Centre of Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment and medical examination, the OC further said.