The most striking rape incident  took place on November 22, when some miscreants raped a housewife  after tying her husband with a tree in Jagla village of Sadar upazila, said Superintendent of Police Khan Muhammad.

Five men raped the 50 years old woman at gun point and snatched away Tk 5000 which they earned from daily labour, he said.

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Besides the rape cases, the district registered 27 murders and among them investigation of 15 cases were completed, the SP said.

Among the murder cases,  12 occurred in Sadar upazila alone  and eight in Mohammadpur upazila, four in Shripur upazila and three in Shalikha upazila, he said.

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 The outgoing year saw 259 unnatural deaths in the district and among them most shoking was  the suicide of two sisters after failing in the Junior School Certificate examination in Mohammadpur upazila, he added. 

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Change in law for rape

The government has recently amended the law with death penalty as the highest punishment for rape.

The much-talked-about 'Women and Children Repression Prevention (Amendment) Bill, 2020' was passed in Parliament on November 17.

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Countrywide protests against sexual violence against women, sparked by gang rape incidents at MC college and another in Noakhali, prompted the government to make the much-needed change.

Nearly a thousand rape incidents, including over 200 gang rapes, were reported between January and September this year, according to Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK).

Forty-five of the victims were killed after rape and 12 others took their own lives. Three women and nine men were killed for protesting against the incidents of sexual harassment, ASK said.

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Numerous incidents of sexual assaults go unreported in the country. Experts say a strict implementation of the law is needed to deter incidents of rape and other forms of violence against women.