The incident came to light on Friday. The victim is currently in police custody.
One of the rape suspects has been arrested. Police and the victim identified him as Rocky, a resident of Kaliganj Upazila’s Tushbhandar area and son of Rajab Ali. He is an autorickshaw driver.
The victim said local leaders realised a hefty fine from the rapists but gave her only enough money to go back home and threatened her.
She said she was returning to Kawnia from Patgram on Tuesday evening by inter-city Kortoa Express train. She got down at Kaliganj’s Kakina station for refreshments and missed the train.
It is here that Rocky approached her and convinced her to travel with him on an autorickshaw to Kawnia.
Instead of heading to Kawnia, Rocky took a detour and around midnight stopped near a water pump where he raped her with three of his accomplices.
They let her go after she promised not to disclose the incident. The clearly disoriented victim was loitering in the area when locals approached her. When she told them about her ordeal, they took her to the house of a village policeman.
On Thursday night, the local leaders held a kangaroo court and realised a large sum of money from the rapists after the victim identified them.
Instead of giving her the money, the men gave her Tk 2,000 for travel and medical expense and sent her out. She went to Kaliganj Press Club on Friday noon with the help of locals.
From there, police took the victim into custody. She filed a case against four people around 9pm.
“We’ve arrested one of the accused,” Officer-in-Charge Forhad Hossain said. “We’re trying to arrest the rest.”
Amending law won’t be enough
Bangladesh has seen a sharp rise in rape and gang rape incidents in recent weeks.
According to Ain-O-Shalish Kendra, about 1,000 rape cases were reported between January and September this year, including 208 gang rapes. Forty-five of the victims were killed after rape and 12 others killed themselves.
Sheepa Hafiza, a former executive director of ASK, said a culture of impunity and the state’s apathy are key reasons behind the increasing number of rapes.
“I think the state is not considering rape and sexual harassment as serious crimes ... The rapists are not properly punished by the 150-year-old law,” she said.
The law minister on Thursday said they have proposed amendment to the existing law, changing the highest punishment to death for rape instead of life imprisonment.
Rights experts have called for ensuring exemplary punishment of the culprits and their abettors through swift trials since 97 percent of perpetrators now get off the hook in many ways.