United News of Bangladesh

A 49-year-old man has been arrested on charge of raping a minor girl in Magura Sadar upazila, said police on Friday. The arrestee, Hitu Sheikh, hailing from Nijandayali Mathpara village of the upazila is a carpenter by profession. Police and locals said the nine-year-old victim came to the house of her sister’s in-laws two days back. The accused is the father-in-law of the victim’s sister. The accused allegedly raped the girl while she had been sleeping alone at the house on Wednesday night, they said. Hearing her screams, family members and neighbours rushed and found her critically injured.  She was first taken to Magura General Hospital and then shifted to Faridpur Medical College Hospital due to her critical condition. Fugitive accused in rape case held in Narayanganj On Thursday afternoon, she was also sent to the capital and now is undergoing treatment at the Intensive Care Unit at a Dhaka hospital. Officer-in-Charge of Magura Sadar police station Md Ayub Ali said they arrested the accused on Thursday and legal action against him was taken. He said police and army personnel visited Magura General Hospital soon after the victim was admitted. The police official added that the victim was now receiving treatment in Dhaka.    

The body of a minor girl killed after a failed attempted rape allegedly by an ice cream seller, was recovered from a pond early Friday three days after she went missing in Munshinganj’s Sirajdikhan upazila. Police arrested accused Sabbir, 24, who gave a confessional statement to a court in this regard on Thursday, said Sirajdikhan police station’s Officer-in-Charge Sahed Al Mamun. The victim Fatema Akter was daughter of Kuwait expatriate Shahidul Islam and a class-I student of a local madrasa. Police and locals said Fatema went to a waz mahfil (religious event) near their home with her maternal aunt on Tuesday evening. The aunt left the victim behind to her (Fatema) brother Ismail there and returned to the home alone, they said. Four held over woman's ‘gang rape’ in Faridpur At one stage, Fatema went missing amid the huge crowd and went to accused Sabbir, who had been selling ice-cream there, while roaming randomly, according to them. On the pretext of offering an ice-cream, Sabbir tried to rape her after taking to a remote place but failed due to her screams, they said. The accused strangled her to death and dumped the body into the pond filled with water hyacinth. Upon suspicion, locals detained Sabbir and handed him over to the police on Thursday night while police produced him before a Munshiganj court with a prayer for remand on Wednesday. The court granted two-remand for him on Wednesday morning, the OC said, adding that during interrogation the accused gave a confessional statement. Later, police recovered the body from the water body late Thursday with the accused, he said. On Wednesday morning, the victim’s mother filed a case accusing Sabbir of the killinh with the police station, added the OC. 2 siblings with disabilities raped in Dhaka’s Jatrabari As involvement of Sabbir in the murder spread, locals on Friday morning ransacked his house and set fire to it.

Two minor girls drowned in a pond in Galachipa upazila of the district on Thursday. The deceased were Maryam, 7, daughter of Nizam Mridha, and Rafia, 4, daughter of Masud Mridha of Sutabaria village under Chiknikandi union of the upazila. Locals said the children came out of their homes to play around 11am and were not found after some time. Later, the bodies floating in the pond were recovered around 3pm and rushed to the upazila health complex where doctors declared them dead. Read more: Two children drown in Ctg pond Shonit Kumar Gayen, officer-in-charge of Galachipa police station, said that on information a team was sent to the spot while the bodies were handed over to their families later. He suspected that the children fell into the pond while playing on the bank of it. 

A two-year-old girl was crushed under a bus in Mirpur area of the capital on Sunday night. The deceased was identified as Raisa, a resident of Mirpur. The accident occurred around 8pm when Raisa along with her mother was traveling to Mirpur 1 by a rickshaw from Technical area, said Darussalam Police Station Officer-in-charge (OC) Aminul Bashar. Read more: 4 killed in road accidents yesterday in Gazipur Raisa fell from the rickshaw following a collision with an auto rickshaw in Technical intersection and then was crushed under the wheels of a bus of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), he added. OC Aminul said the child's head was crushed under the wheel of the bus. Read more: Couple among 4 dead in Gaibandha road accident “So only the remaining body part could be recovered and sent to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital morgue.” Police detained bus driver Alamin, 36.

A madrasha teacher was detained on charge of raping a seven-old-year girl in Fatikchhari upazila of Chattogram district on early Tuesday. The detainee is identified as Md Hanif, 27, an Arabic teacher of Jamirul Ulum Islami Madrasha and son of Abul Kalam of Patachhara village in Ramgarh upazila of Khagrachhari district. Locals said the victim, a second-grader of a government primary school in Guardpara village under Bhujpur Police Station of the Fatikchhari upazila, went to the accused for Arabic studies at the madrasha on Monday afternoon where he raped her in the absence of other students. The victim shared the matter with her guardians after returning home. Read: Madrasa girl raped inside school in Gazipur, case filed Motaher Hossain, a sub-inspector of Bhujpur Police Station, said the locals handed the accused over to Datmara Police Investigation Centre after catching from the madrasha around 2am. The rape survivor was admitted to One-Stop-Crisis Centre of Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH) for treatment, he adding that no case is yet to register in this connection

A madrasa teacher was sued in a case filed over the rape of a third-grader in Shalikha upazila of the district on Saturday.The accused is Israel Mollah, 55, an assistant teacher of Bahar Bag Abediya Dakhil Madrasa of Magura Sadar Upazila.A case was filed at Shalikha police in this regard following a complaint lodge by the victim's mother Faziron Begum, said Bisharul Islam, officer-in-charge of the police station.According to the case statement, the 8-year-old victim went to Israel's house to bring fish kept in his fridge on Friday noon. Read: 5 get death sentence for raping teenage girl in KhulnaTaking advantage of an empty house, Israel took the girl to his room and raped her. Later, the victim’s mother filed a complaint over the matter, added the statement.

A seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a 15-year-old boy in her neighbourhood in Palashbari upazila of Gaibandha on Thursday. The accused has been absconding since the alleged crime. The rape survivor is undergoing treatment at Gaibandha District Hospital, said Masud Rana, officer-in-charge of Palashbari police station. Also read: Schoolgirl gang raped in Rajshahi; 2 held The accused teen went to the girl's house when she was alone and took her to a deserted house promising to buy her a dress for Eid, said the OC. "In the deserted house, the teen raped her." The girl started bleeding after the alleged rape and narrated her ordeal to her mother. The girl’s mother lodged a complaint at Palashbari police station in this regard on Friday, said OC Masud. Also read:  Khulna police make 6 arrests after indigenous woman gangraped at home

In a wedding held inside Khulna District jail a 39-year-old man married a minor girl who was allegedly raped by him two years ago, authorities said on Monday. The girl, Sukh Moni, now 15, was brought to the jail from a safe home for the marriage around 2:30 pm on Sunday with accused Rafiqul Islam Babu by the order of the High Court considering the greater interests of the rape survivor, said Md Fakhruddin, deputy jailor of Khulna Jail. Also read: Madrasa director rapes 7-yr-old repeatedly in Chuadanga, held Families of the couple were present during the simple event when marriage registration was done, he said. He said following the directions of the High Court the marriage was registered by district marriage registrar at the jail office.   Khulna Jail Superintendent Omar Faruque, Jailor Md Tariqul Islam, Deputy Jailor Md Nur-E-Alam Siddiqui were present during the programme along with other officials and staffers of the jail. “Shukh Moni was brought in jail two days before registering the marriage from Bagerhat safe home. The High Court has approved the marriage and both Shukh Moni’s and Babu’s family have given their consent.” said jail super Omar Faruque.  Babu, arrested in the rape case, has been in jail since December 17, 2020 while survivor Shukh Moni, who was 13 at the time of the assault, was sent to a safe home as she was two months pregnant then.   At the safe home the girl gave birth to a child who did not survive. Regarding the marriage of the underage girl (child marriage) Advocate Md Mominul Haque, coordinator of Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights  Khulna said,” According to section 19 of the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2017, such marriages can be done in a special arrangement with the permission of the court and the consent of both the parents." “The man was caretaker of a house where the girl used to work as a house help. As she was pregnant when the case was filed she was sent to safe home by the court considering an appeal for her safe custody,” he said. Also read:5-yr-old girl killed after ‘rape’ in Noakhali: Cousin held Section 19 of the Child Marriage Restraint Act provides that in special circumstances, the court can give marriage to children, for protecting the best interests of them, with the consent of their parents. However, there is no provision for having any consent from those children while they are getting married as they are not adults. 

One of the two minor siblings who were set on fire by their brother-in-law in the city's Adabor area on Tuesday, succumbed to her burn injuries at a Dhaka hospital on Friday morning. The deceased was identified as 10-year-old Mitu, who had suffered 98% burns. She died at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in the morning, said Bacchu Mia, inspector-in-charge of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital outpost. Mitu’s five-year-old brother Bappy, who sustained 8% burns on his hands is currently recuperating at the same hospital. Also read: 3 steel mill workers burnt by molten iron at Jatrabari The two siblings, children of Babul Talukdar, a betel leaf seller, and Aklima Akter, a RMG factory worker, were set on fire at 12pm on Tuesday at a flat in Sunibir Housing Society in the Adabor area. Owner of the building, Abdul Malek said that the brother-in-law of the victims, Allauddin, and his wife Mou lived in a rented flat on the ground floor of the building. “On Tuesday, we rescued the two children hearing their screams and admitted them to the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery around 3pm,” he said. Arif, a neighbour of Alauddin, said, “Hearing the screams, we rushed to the flat. After breaking open the door, we rescued both the siblings." Also read: 10-month old burnt to death in Chandpur fire In his statement to the police, Bappy said that the accused had called them to his house and set them ablaze. "He then locked the door from outside and left the spot."

A baby girl drowned in a pond at Nabinagar village in Chuadanga Sadar Upazila on Monday morning. The deceased was identified as Ayesha Khatun, 14-month-old daughter of Sobuj Hossain of the village. Read: SSC examinee drowns in Bogura Quoting family members, local UP member Ohidul Islam said Ayesha fell into a pond adjacent to their house in the morning while playing at the courtyard. Later, family members rescued her and took her to Chuadanga Sadar Hospital where doctors declared her dead, he added.