Election motive dropped from charge sheet in Subarnachar rape case

The police have concealed the main allegations of election dispute in the final charge sheet of Subarnachar gang rape case. Instead, it mentions 'previous enmity' as the prime cause of the rape, according to the victim and her husband.

The victim, a mother of four, was gang raped in her house on 30 December night because of her voting choice.

The victim’s family is now having doubts as to whether they will be able to get justice at all. The police did not mention any election dispute in the case statement earlier. The victim’s husband, also the plaintiff of the case filed on 31 December, told Prothom Alo that he was not aware of what the police wrote in the statement as he cannot read or write.

He claimed that he had no idea that the police mentioned previous enmity as the reason behind his wife’s rape.

The victim talked to Prothom Alo about the case on Friday in Subarnachar. She said the investigating officers of Detective Branch (DB) police called her and her husband to read out the charge sheet to them before submitting on 27 March.

Objecting to its content, the victim told the officers, “Why did you write false statements? I don’t have any land or property. I haven't married off my children. Why would I have any enmity with others?”

In response to the reaction of the victim, the inspector of DB and the investigation officer of the case, Zakir Hossain said, the accused will be jailed and maybe hanged on the charges of what is already written in the charge sheet.

The incident created an uproar across the country and was appeared prominently in national and foreign media. The then officer-in-charge (OC) Nizamuddin of Charjabbar police station of Subarnachar was withdrawn due to his negligence at the time.

The husband of the victim, filed a complaint with the Charjabbar police station in Subarnachar on 31 December. A hearing is scheduled to be held on 8 May at the Noakhali district tribunal for the repression of women and, following police investigations and the submission of the charge sheet. Earlier on 27 March, the police submitted the charge sheet in the magistrate court.

DB inspector Zakir Hossain said, it is a rape case. The election dispute is not the main issue here.
“They are village people and don't know what are they saying. The eight accused persons who have been arrested did not mention about any election dispute in their confessional statements,” he added.

The victim's family alleged that they were pressurised to remove mention of the election dispute from the case from the beginning. Incidentally, immediately after the incident, Noakhali district police super Ilias Sharif said that the gang rape took place due to previous enmity and there was no issue related to the election.
The plaintiff's lawyer Rabiul Hassan said, the police have submitted such charge sheet due to political influence.

He said they would not appeal against the charge sheet. The rape victim said no matter what was written in the charge sheet, she would reveal the truth of the matter in court.

The victim's husband spoke of the gang rape at Charjabbar Police Station in Subarnachar, but the police removed mention of the the election dispute and the names of five of the accused persons, including the Subarnachar Upazila Awami League’s publicity secretary Ruhul Amin. Ruhul Amin was later detained and was expelled from the party.

What is in the charge sheet

Charjabbar police started to investigate the case first. This was later handed over to DB. It was mentioned in the case statement that the accused broke into the victim’s house. The police did not say what happened later though.

The police said in the charge sheet that the victim and her husband had previous enmity with the accused Ruhul Amin and Hasan Ali alias Bulu. Following their instructions, other persons raped the victim. Sohel, Md Jasim and Sohel dragged her out of the room and beat her with sticks. Police found bruises and injury marks on her body.

There are 16 accused in the case of whom 11 people are now in jail. The remaining five are now on the run, according to the police. They are Md Hanif, Md Chowdhury, Mosharraf Hossain, Md Mintu and Md Sohel.

According to Charjabbar police station, there is a murder case against Ruhul Amin and another case of extortion against Ibrahim Khalil. All of the accused are affiliated with the ruling Awami League.

The rape victim said the police was aware that she had been threatened since the morning of the election, but they did not make mention of that.
Hashim Majhi, one of the cohorts of Ruhul Amin, asked her to go to the polling station and threatened her for not doing so, she added. She said even plainclothes men to to her while she was in hospital and told her not to reveal all this. But she refused to remain silent. She said she will not remain silent in future either.

* This report appeared in the print edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Farjana Liakat