Rape Victim Raped again in Lalmonirhat

A girl was raped in Lalmonirhat's Patgram Upazila on Wednesday evening at her sister's house, her family said on Thursday.   

The victim filed a case at Patgram Police Station on Thursday evening indicting Robi Mia, 18, son of Abdul Alim Mia of Mominpur Village under Jongra Union.

According to the case statement, the victim was visiting her sister in Kuchlibari union. On Wednesday evening, their neighbour Robi came to the house and raped her. The girl’s sister and brother-in-law were not at home at the time.

The victim’s sister rescued her but the rapist fled. The girl filed the case after the local arbitration failed to resolve the matter.

Patgram Police Station’s in-charge Sumon Kumar Mohonto said the girl had filed a gang rape case last month against 10 people in Kaliganj.

He said police are trying to arrest Robi.

Bangladesh has seen an increase in rape incidents in recent weeks. Between January and September of this year, almost 1,000 incidents of rape have been reported, more than 200 of them gang rape, according to the Ain o Salish Kendra rights group.

But this is believed to be a fraction of the incidents, as many victims do not report stigmatizing assaults.

The government has recently introduced the death penalty as the highest penalty for rape in law following a series of sexual assaults that have provoked national protests.

According to Human Rights Watch, the rate of rape conviction in Bangladesh is less than 1%.