A 47-year-old female UP member (reserved seat) has reportedly been raped by another UP member for two days in Mohonpur upazila of Rajshahi district. The female UP member, mother of three children, lodged a complaint against five people including UP member Mojibor Rahman with Mohonpur Police on Friday, said officer-in-charge of the police station Touhidul Islam. According to the complaint, Mojibur developed an extramarital relationship with the female UP member and took her to a house on Wednesday with a promise to marry her where he raped her for two days. On Friday, Mojibor fled the house keeping the woman alone there. READ: 3 arrested in Ctg over gang rape of girl who escaped from Cumilla Later, Mojibor’s relatives drive her out of the house. She then made a phone call to the national emergency help line 999. Later police took her to one stop crisis centre of Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital. Police also arrested five people in this connection. Efforts are on to arrest the accused, said the OC.

A 21-year-old woman visiting her maternal home in Sylhet city was allegedly gagged and raped by a man on Thursday night. In her complaint to the police, the woman claimed that she was alone when Aminur Rahman Amir, the accused, barged into the house, tied her mouth with a scarf and forced himself on her. At the time, the rape survivor's parents had gone out for dinner with her three-year-old child, according to the complaint. When her parents returned home around 9 am, they found the door of the house locked from inside. However, the accused managed to escape. Also read: 5-year old murdered after rape in CTG; 4 held Based on the complaint, an FIR for rape has been lodged at Airport Police Station, said Ashrafullah Taher, deputy commissioner of Sylhet Metropolitan Police. Bangladesh's rape epidemic Sexual assaults on women continue unabated in Bangladesh, despite the government introducing death penalty for rapes last year. A police headquarters report, released recently, said that 26,695 rape cases were filed across the country in the past five years. Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) data shows that 1,018 children were raped last year alone, but only 683 police cases had been filed. Also, 116 survivors were six years old or below. Overall, 1,627 rape cases were reported last year and 53 of the women were killed by the perpetrators while 14 took their own lives, as per the data. Read: Rajshahi child rape & murder case accused shot dead However, ASK's data is just the tip of the iceberg, according to aid agencies, who report that most women are too afraid to report rape. In October 2020, the country was rocked by protests after a woman was allegedly attacked and raped in Noakhali. Read: Out on joyride, woman raped by six on moving bus in Chattogram In November last year, Bangladesh introduced capital punishment for rape, following days of protests against sexual violence against women in several cities across the country. But human rights organisations say the move will not solve the country's rape crisis, as the survivors of the heinous crime are often stigmatised in the society.

A man was arrested in Rajbari’s Goalanda on Wednesday night for allegedly trying to rape his step-daughter, an eighth grader at a local school.

The government's recent move to send rapists to the gallows seems to have done little to instil fear in the perpetrators of the horrific crime against women.

Despite widespread protests against rape and the government’s plan to toughen the law in this regard, the incidents of rape, gang rape and molestation never seem to decline across the country.

Some 59 women fell victim to rape and sexual harassments on public transports in 2019, said Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, a passengers’ welfare platform.