Sherpur Gang Rape: Family under pressure to withdraw case

After raping both a mother and her daughter in Sherpur's Nalitabari on Sunday, the perpetrators are now threatening the victim family for filing a case.

The woman's elder sister said, "They are putting pressure on us after we filed a case against them, saying we will later 'regret it'. They even offered us money to settle the case out of court.

"They [the criminals] gang raped my sister and niece thinking they could get away with it... If I were not here at the village when it happened, maybe this heinous crime would have gone unheeded. I am now getting threats from different quarters."

The victim woman and girl used to live alone. The elder sister had come to stay with them around two weeks ago.

The 40-year-old mother and her daughter, a fourth grader, were raped by a gang in Nalitabari upazila early Sunday.

The same day. the mother filed a case with Nalitabari Police Station, accusing eight people.

Police arrested two. Six others, including prime accused Omar Ali, are on the run.

The two arrestees named in the first information report (FIR) are Abdus Sattar, 45, a political aspirant and a cattle trader, and Sadek Mia, 30, who operates a dredger.

The six others accused are Omar Ali, Osman Ali, Jahangir Alam, Tara Mia, Mofiz Uddin and Ahmed Ali – all aged between 30 and 42, said Bashir Ahmed, office-in-charge of Nalitabari Police Station.

According to locals, the perpetrators and the victims are from the same village -- Palashikuri.

They said that except for two, none of the accused have political affiliations. They have formed a group and are known as local goons. They spend most of their time gambling.

Though they have no past criminal records, they were well connected to each other and committed the different crimes together, said OC Bashir.

Main accused Omar Ali was a garments worker in Dhaka and lost his job during the pandemic. He came back to the village and started working as a farm labourer on his own and hired land, said Fazlul Haque, senior vice chairman of Poragaon union Awami League.

Jahangir Alam and Mofiz Uddin were also garment workers in the capital and lost their jobs during the pandemic. They also returned to the Palashikura village and started farm work, villagers said.

Tara Mia is a leader of the ruling party's Truck Workers' union leader, while Ahmed Ali is farmer by profession.

Osman, the owner of the house where the gang rape took place, works as a security guard at a garment factory in Dhaka. He still lives there with his family. He came to his empty house in the village around three days before the incident, said Fazlul Haque.

Visiting the victims, this correspondent found that the teenage daughter has not stopped crying since the incident.

The family has been traumatised as the news spread across the entire village. Neighbours are rushing to provide consolation but the victims keep themselves isolated in a room.

"They have ruined my daughter's future… Now I want justice and exemplary punishment to the perpetrators," said the victim mother, as tears roll downed her cheeks.

This correspondent visited Osman's house and saw that it was in a remote area with no other houses, except one, within 100 yards of it.

Locals allege that the house and a bamboo cluster behind it are used by criminals for different illegal activities, including gambling.

The primary medical test confirmed that the mother and daughter were gang raped, said OC Bashir, adding that samples will be collected from the victims as well as the accused for cross examination.

No other accused were arrested till the filing of this report yesterday evening.

Drives are on to arrest them, police said.