Woman says she wasn’t raped on bus, accuses media of false news

A woman, who according to certain news media, was raped in a Rajshahi-bound bus in robbery incident, binned the claim, saying that none spoke with her before publishing the news. The woman said she has been socially stigmatized and had mentally broken due to the false news.

“I didn’t suffer for losing money and jewelry to the robbers, but the spreading of false news has devastated me,” the woman told Prothom Alo.

This correspondent talked with the women on the banks of Mahananda river in Chapainawabganj on Wednesday evening. She was preparing to attend a 'kirtaan' (devotional song) ceremony.

“I was falsely stigmatized in this incident. I’m am stresses as it is because my husband has been bedridden due to an accident. He has been staying home but the media reported that he accompanied me that day. They reported I was raped after me husband was beaten. This is how the media reported the incident but it is far from reality. My husband has been bedridden for around a year,” said the woman.  

The woman said she has been socially stigmatised and her in-laws regard her in a suspicious light. She said it would be tough for her to survive if this continues.

The woman said she would have raised her voice had she really been subjected to rape.

She pleaded all to verify with the victims before spreading any news of rape.

The woman said she would oncesing 'kirtaan' for her own pleasure but now singing has become her source of income after spending all savings on the protracted treatment of her husband. Her husband was critically injured in an accident around a year ago.

“We may not have money but honour is all we have. We don’t have any point to survive if that honour is stripped from me,” added the woman.

She recounted the fateful night on 17 February. She boarded the Rajshahi-bound bus from Hemayetpur in Savar. The robbers took valuables away from all passengers and frisked her for six to seven times. The robbers snatched 'City Gold' (imitation gold) bangles from her. At that time she cried out in pain when they removed the bangles from her wrists.

The woman said, “Many people may have the wrong idea after hearing my screaming, that I had been raped or something. But I told law enforcers in the police station (a general diary was filed at the Baraigram police station in Natore after the incident) that my hand was hurt and so I screamed when the bangle was removed. As far as I know, no one was raped. Girls were tortured, they were searched. It happened, but not rape.”

The woman repeatedly clarified that she was not raped. Still, she is mentally broken due to all the talk surrounding the incident.

She said, ‘Now everyone is saying, why did the media report it if something didn’t really happen? Now no one believes me. But those who were with me know, as they were witnesses.

She accused some media of unnecessarily spreading lies.