The mother of the eight-year-old girl from Magura filed a case on allegation of raping her minor daughter.
The woman alleged in the case statement that the father-in-law of her elder daughter raped her minor daughter at their house with the help of her daughter’s husband, while the mother-in-law and brother-in-law of her daughter knew it, and they tried to kill the child to cover up the incident.
The victim’s mother sent the case statement to the Magura’s Sadar upazila police station through her husband and elder daughter on Saturday morning, and the case was filed around 3:00 pm.
Allegations of rape and inflicting injuries through rape were made in the case statement under sections 9(4)(A) and 30 of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act. Father-in-law, husband, brother-in-law and mother-in-law of the victim’s elder sister were made accused in this case. Previously, they were taken to police custody.
Magura’s additional superintendent of Police Md Mirazul Islam confirmed the matter to Prothom Alo. He said the child underwent treatment in Dhaka. A case was recorded as per the statement by the victim’s mother while the accused, who had been in police custody, were shown arrested and sent to court.
According to the case statement, the elder sister of the victim was married to Sazib Sheikh, 18, younger son of Hitu Sheikh, 42, from Magura municipality, four months ago.
Hitu Sheikh, his wife Zaheda Khatun, 45, their elder son Ratul Sheikh, 20, and younger son Sozib Sheikh live in that house. The father-in-law had been making illicit offers to her elder daughter since her marriage. Other family members also knew it. They even sometimes exchanged heated arguments on this issue. Amid this circumstance, the eighth-year-old girl went to visit the in-law’s house of her sister on 1 March.
The plaintiff described in the case statement that the child slept with her elder sister and brother-in-law in the same room after finishing dinner around 10:00 pm on 5 March. At around 2:30 pm, the elder sister woke up and found her younger sister lying on the floor. The child then told her elder sister that she felt pain at the lower parts of her body, which the elder sister thought she is making a fuss during sleep.
Again, the child informed her sister about the pain around 6:00 am. Asked about the reason, the child said when the brother-in-law (Sazib) opened the door at night, his father (Hitu Sheikh) took her to his room holding her mouth and then raped her. When she tried to scream, she was strangled. Later, she was abandoned to the floor of her sister’s room.
The case statement further stated that when the incident was disclosed, the victim’s elder sister wanted to inform their mother through mobile phone, but her husband Sozib took away the mobile phones and beat her.
He even threatened to kill the child if anyone knows, and then confined two sisters to separate rooms. When neighbour woman Zohra came to their house in the morning, the elder sister’s brother-in-law, Ratul, opened the door. At that time, they tried to treat the child by pouring water on her head.
At around 10:30am, the child became ill again, the elder sister’s mother-in-law, with the help of others, took the child to the 25-bed Hospital in Magura. At the hospital, the mother-in-law told physicians that the child became possessed. When physicians and others sensed the matter, the mother-in-law fled the hospital. Later, the plaintiff went to the hospital.
Several sources related to the case investigation said none of the arrestees – husband, father-in-law, mother-in-law and brother-in-law of the victim’s elder sister – admitted to having been involved in the incident. Rather, they were making inconsistent and contradicting statements. Police said the victim’s statement could not be recorded since she was taken to the hospital in an unconscious condition. Police, however, collected DNA samples.
Speaking to journalists, the victim’s elder sister said, “I experienced an incident 20 days ago. Nobody was at home that evening. I went to the restroom keeping the lights of the house on, but when I returned from the restroom, I found the lights in the room off. All of a sudden, someone hugged me from behind. Considering the height and other issues, I understand he was my father-in-law. When I told my husband about it, he scolded me. I, however, informed my family about the matter."
Later, I went home and did not want to return to the in-laws’ house. But, my family convinced me and sent me there again. I was always afraid that if anything worse than the previous incident would happen. For this reason, my family sent my younger sister with me,” she added.
She further said she also heard from people that previously her father-in-law had done the same thing with two girls.
According to the sources of police and the victim’s family, the child is from Magura’s Sreepur upazila. She went to the house of her elder sister’s in-laws several days ago. The mother-in-law of her sister brought her to the Magura 250-bed Hospital in an unconscious condition around 11:00 am on 6 March, Thursday. Later, the child's mother went to the hospital.
The victim was sent to Faridpur Medical College Hospital in the afternoon and to Dhaka Medical College Hospital at night for better treatment. She was kept on life support on Friday. He was shifted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Dhaka on Saturday afternoon after her condition deteriorated.