6 arrested for gang-rape of Gopalganj university student: RAB

Six people have been arrested in connection with the gang-rape of a student of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University (BSMRSTU) in Gopalganj, said Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

They were arrested from different areas of the Gopalganj, RAB-8 (Madaripur) commander Md. Sadequl Islam told Prothom Alo on Saturday morning.

The RAB officer further said the law enforcement will hold a press conference at its Karwan Bazar headquarters regarding the arrests.

Several sources from the university said miscreants picked up two students in an auto-rickshaw near Nabinbagh helipad in Gopalganj sadar on Wednesday night. Later, they tied the male student and raped the female student in an under construction building of Gopalganj Zilla School at around 9:45pm.

Protesting the incident the students of BSMRSTU demonstrated in front of Gopalganj sadar police station, voicing a three-point demand.

Later, the protesting students blocked Dhaka-Khulna highway in Ghonapara of Gopalganj from around 6:00am Thursday demanding trial of the perpetrators. They withdrew the blockade at around 5:00pm issuing a 24-hour ultimatum to meet their demands.

The students, on Friday afternoon, held a press briefing in front of the university’s administration building to press home their four-point demands.

The demands are – making public the names of the perpetrators by arresting them within 24 hours and ensuring capital punishment, ensuring exemplary punishment to people who carried out attack on protesting students and teachers including the vice-chancellor of the university, ensuring security of the students and teachers and stopping entry of outsiders without permission of the authorities, and informing the prime minister of the role of police, administration and political figures by holding a video conference with her and seeking her interference to resolve the problem.