Rape of minority community woman in Bangladesh sparks outrage, main suspect arrested
The alleged rape of a woman belonging to a minority community three days ago in central Bangladesh's Cumilla district sparked nationwide outrage on Sunday after a video of the assault went viral. Police personnel stand guard at barricades across a road as protesters march through the streets of Dhaka. (File photo/AFP)
The main suspect of the alleged rape has been arrested along with several others, police said.
Cumilla district's police chief Nazir Ahmed Khan said the main accused was arrested in a predawn raid at Dhaka's Sayedabad area and four others were apprehended for revealing the picture and identity of the woman on social media.
Students of Dhaka University staged marches in the campus condemning the rape while residents of its Jagannath Hall dormitory, dedicated for minority community students, took out processions calling for justice.
Secretary General of former prime minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir demanded exemplary punitive action against the culprits.
The High Court, meanwhile, issued a directive asking authorities to immediately remove the video of the assault that went viral on social media on Saturday.
The two-judge bench also asked the authorities concerned to ensure security of the rape survivor and provide her necessary treatment.
Some media reports suggested the police action came only after the video went viral. According to a report, people in the neighbourhood initially released the culprit after a mass beating and took him to a hospital instead of handing him over to police. The suspect allegedly fled from the hospital.
The reports suggested the woman was visiting her paternal home at Culimma's Muradnagar sub-district where the accused allegedly broke into the house at night.
Ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina's son Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed, who has served as his mother's advisor, took to X to express his outrage at the incident.
He blamed the Yunus administration for a rise in incidents of mob attacks, terrorism and rape in the last 11 months.
Bangladesh witnessed incidents of violence against members of minority communities following the fall of the Hasina-led Awami League government in August last year.
Hasina fled to India when her regime was toppled on August 5 last year, as a fallout of a violent street movement led by a platform called Students against Discrimination.
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, 85, took charge of the interim government three days later.
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