A 9th-grader has allegedly been gang-raped by four youths at a village of Kachua Upazila in Bagerhat District on Thursday night.
The alleged rapists are- Sohel Sheikh, Ezajul Mollah, Sojib Mollah, and Tipu Sheikh of the same area.
According to the girl’s father, the incident occurred on Thursday night as they were not at home.
On Thursday night, “the miscreants entered the girl’s room and raped her showing knife and mouth covered with a cloth”.
The seriously injured survivor was admitted to Bagerhat Sadar hospital on Friday night.
On information, Bagerhat’s additional police super Asaduzzaman visited the girl at the hospital.
Tulshi Rani Biswas, senior staff nurse of Bagerhat Sadar Hospital said several injury marks were spotted on the girl’s body and now she is seriously sick.
Her sample collected for medical examination, she added.
“If a complaint is lodged with the police station, a case will be filed in connection with the incident and efforts are being made to arrest the accused,” said additional police super Asaduzzaman.
Sexual assaults on women continue unabated in Bangladesh, despite the government introducing the death penalty for rapes in 2020.
Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) data shows that 1,018 children were raped in 2020 alone, but only 683 police cases had been filed. Also, 116 survivors were six years old or below.
Overall, 1,627 rape cases were reported in 2020 and 53 of the women were killed by the perpetrators while 14 took their own lives, as per the data.
However, ASK’s data is just the tip of the iceberg, according to aid agencies, who report that most women are too afraid to report rape.
