9-yr-old raped at knifepoint in Meherpur

A nine-year-old girl was raped at knifepoint in Meherpur on Monday, while three men were sent to jail yesterday in connection with the gangrape of a woman in Cumilla.

 In Meherpur, the child is currently undergoing treatment at an upazila health complex. Her father filed a case accusing 26-year-old Shakil Ahmed, who was arrested the same night.

 According to the case statement, the girl was on her way to deliver food to her father, who was working in a field, around 10:00am when Shakil stopped her, forced her into another field at knifepoint, and raped her.

 She later told her father, who, along with locals, caught the accused, beat him up, and handed him over to police, said Bani Israel, officer-in-charge of Gangni Police Station OC Bani Israel. Shakil was sent to jail through a court yesterday, he added.

 In Cumilla, three men were sent to jail yesterday on charges of raping a 21-year-old garment worker.

 The accused are Enayet Rahman alias Sakkhu, an auto-rickshaw driver, and his associates Md Sagor and Swapon Mia -- are all residents of Laksam municipality, police said.

 According to the case, the woman had gone to Laksam Bazar on June 8 and spent the night at the railway junction. The next morning, four men allegedly took her to an abandoned spot near the station and raped her.

 Her cousin later filed a complaint with Laksam Police Station, said OC Nazneen Sultana.

The three were arrested early yesterday and sent to jail through court. Police are looking for the fourth accused, she added.

 In Habiganj, Rab arrested a bus worker early yesterday over the rape of a 21-year-old garment worker on a moving bus in Nabiganj upazila on Sunday.

 The accused, Liton Mia, of Sylhet's Bishwanath upazila, was arrested from Jalalpur area in Dakshin Surma upazila, said KM Shahidul Islam, additional superintendent of police (media) of Rab-9. The bus driver had earlier been arrested from the spot on the day of the incident.

 The victim had been travelling to her village home in Habiganj from Dhaka.

 In Gazipur, police arrested the security guard of an ATM booth on Monday night for raping a 14-year-old girl inside the booth in Sreepur the day before.

 (Our correspondents from Cumilla, Benapole, Moulvibazar and Gazipur contributed to this report.)