Gang rape at MC College hostel: Probe body formed, 2 guards suspended

MC College authorities in Sylhet on Saturday formed a three-member probe committee over the rape incident of a woman in a dormitory of the college on Friday night.

Headed by chairman of mathematics department of the college Anwar Hossain, the committee has been asked to submit the probe report within seven working days. The other two members are the hostel superintendent Md Jamal Uddin and political science department teacher Jiban Krishna Bhattachaya.

The college authorities also suspended two security guards and revoked the seat allotment of Mahfuzur Rahman, an accused in the case.

The decisions were taken at an emergency meeting of the academic council on Saturday evening.

Suspended security guards Rasel Mia and Sobuj Ahmed were contractual employees.

Principal of the college Saleh Ahmed told Prothom Alo that the two guards were alleged to be found guilty of negligence and suspended permanently.

Accused student Mahfuzur Rahman would be permanently dismissed from the college if found guilty, the college principal added.

Around six activists of ruling Awami League’s student body Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) allegedly grabbed a 20-year-old woman while she was with her husband in a car and gang-raped her, holding her husband hostage at the college hostel in Tilagarh area of Sylhet on Friday night.

The gruesome incident took place in front of Block 7 of an MC College hostel room that the BCL men occupied since 2012.

The victim’s husband filed a rape case against nine including three unidentified persons in connection with the incident on Saturday morning.

Six of the accused are -- Saidur Rahman, 28, Tarequl Islam, 28, Shah Mahbubur Rahman alias Rony, 25, Arjun Laskar, 25, Rabiul Islam, 25, and Mahfuzur Rahman alias Masum, 25.

Police also filed an arms case against M Saifur Rahman, the prime accused in the gang rape case.