Nat’l minority girl raped in Khagrachari

Courtesy: New Age, Dhaka | Saturday, March 8, 2014 | Link: http://www.newagebd.com/detail.php?date=2014-03-08&nid=85896#.UxuyJj_xoiJ

A national minority girl was raped in Manikchari upazila of Khagrachari on Friday.
Police arrested three people in this connection.

They are Shahidul Islam, 25, son of Samsul Haque, Mahbub Alam, 27, son of Sohrab Howlader, and Billal Hossain, 24, son of Fazlur Farazi.

Police and locals said the girl, aged 19, was gang raped at a jungle in Pichlatala area in the afternoon.

The girl was going home in Manikchari form Khagrachari town. She got down from a bus at Gabmara. After that, she hired the motorcycle of Shahidul to reach home but Shahidul stopped the vehicle at Pichlatala saying the motorcycle was out of order, said Manikchari union chairman Abul Kalam.

Meanwhile, Shahidul called the two others — Mahbub and Billal — over mobile phone and took the girl to a nearby jungle and raped her, he said.

After the girl managed to flee, she related the incident to the people at a shop in the area, the chairman added.
Locals, led by the UP chairman, conducted a search in the area, caught the trio and handed them over to police, Manikchari police officer-in-charge Keshab Chakrabartee said.

National minorities in the district held protests against the rape and in an instant reaction blocked the Khagrachari-Chittagong highway for an hour in the afternoon.

The OC said a case was filed against the three in this connection. Khagrachari police assistant superintendent Mohammad Shahjahan said the girl was now in police custody. She has identified the three and given a statement.