Man arrested for ‘raping’ three children

A man pretending to be a practitioner of sorcery, has been arrested in Gaibandha's Sundarganj upazile after he allegedly raped three children promising them to teach 'dark magic', police said Saturday.

The arrestee was Faruk Hossain, a resident of Dharmapur village.

Abdullah Hilzaman, officer-in-charge of Sundarganj police station, said they arrested Faruk in a rape case filed by the father of the victims.

According to the case statement, Faruk called three daughters - aged 10, 11 and 13, of Fakhar Uddin in the pretext of teaching them sorcery on Thursday (18 June) to the house of paralysed patient Ataur Rahman in Kanchibari union of the area.

Later, he allegedly raped the 13-year-child in the nearby area on that day and the two other children on Friday.

The 10-year-old child fell sick on Friday night and her parents were called there and the rape incident came into light. The rapist fled the area.

Locals said Faruk had been treating cancer, paralysed patients with his 'sorcery or black magic' in exchange for money at his home.

He used to take female children in the pretext of driving away ghosts and Jinn and raped the children, locals said.

According to the Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BSAF) report, State of Child Rights in Bangladesh, published in January the country saw a spike in incidents of child rape and sexual assault on children last year compared to 2018.

The child rights advocacy group said, 1,005 incidents of child rape were recorded last year, a 76.01 per cent increase compared to the year before.

On average, about 84 children became victims of rape in every month of 2019, BSAF said.