Teen housewife 'raped' on moving bus in Narayanganj, 3 detained

An 18-year-old girl was allegedly raped by three young men on a moving bus while going to Rupganj from Jatrabari in Dhaka on Sunday night.

The incident took place on Dhaka-Chattogram highway at Madanpur in Bandar upazila of Narayanganj district.

Police arrested three people—the driver of the bus Nurul Haque, 21 and two of his associates from Madanpur area of the district in the night. Both of them were teens.

Dipak Chandra Shaha, officer-in-charge of Bandar police station, said the married teenage girl boarded the bus to go to Rupganj around 10:30 pm from Jatrabari area in the capital on Sunday.

When the bus reached Chattogram road, all the passengers except the girl got down from the bus.

Later, the bus driver started driving after playing a song on the loudspeaker. At one stage, the trio took turns to rape her on the moving bus.

They also dropped the victim in the Madanpur area.

Meanwhile, the girl made a phone call at 999 and sought help from the police informing the incident.

Police arrested the trio from a bus repair workshop in the night.

The girl lodged a complaint with Bandar police station the same night.

Police also sent the girl to local hospital for medical tests.

Sexual assaults on women continue unabated in Bangladesh, despite the government introducing death penalty for rapes last year.

A police headquarters report, released recently, said that 26,695 rape cases were filed across the country in the past five years.

Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) data shows that 1,018 children were raped last year alone, but only 683 police cases had been filed. Also, 116 survivors were six years old or below.