Our Correspondent :
The Noakhali woman, who was gang raped and beaten up by criminals in her own home, said local drug dealer Badal had been making indecent proposals to her for a long time now.
In conversation with our local correspondent at Begumganj Model Police Station on Monday noon, the woman narrated the horror she went through. The brutality she faced, which was captured on a video which went viral on social media and sparked outrage across the country.
She said Badal and his associates would mill around her house almost every night. They would even knock on her door, but she never let them in.
However, on the night of September 2 around 40 to 50 people led by Badal surrounded her house. At one point, they kicked down the door and around 16-18 people entered the house, she said.
They forced her husband into a nearby room, tied up his hands and beat him up. Badal, Rahim, Saiful and Sumon then proceeded to beat her up as well.
At one stage, Badal hit her on the head with a black steel flashlight.
The woman said she begged her attackers to let her go. She Badal and four others “molested her” and “tried to rape her”, but when she resisted, they beat her up.
She said the attackers filmed the entire incident and while her screams alerted the locals, no one “dared to come forward” in fear of the criminals. Following the incident, the rape survivor went to the ward member of Eklashpur union seeking his help to take this matter to the police. “I went to the member and told him that I am poor and I do not have the power to go to the police myself and asked him to investigate the matter and seek justice on my behalf. I told him what the men did to me,” she said.
When he did not do anything about it, she left the area and went into hiding, she said.
The ward member of Eklashpur union, Moazzem Hossain Sohag, however, had earlier denied knowing who the men in the video are. “The woman came to me after the incident, but did not name anyone, so I could not do anything,” he said when contacted after the video of the incident went viral.
Two cases have been filed over the incident-one under the Pornography Control Act and another under the Women and Child Repression Act.
The latter case addressed her rape and torture, informed our correspondent. Police, however, booked the men in the video under “attempt to rape” charges.
The charge of rape carries a life sentence, whereas, “attempt to rape” commits perpetrators between five to ten years in prison.
As per the video, the perpetrators did not engage in penile-vaginal intercourse, and instead opted to use their hands, as well as a large stick as a tool.
In addition, the survivor herself narrated in her first information report that the perpetrators used their hands as instruments in carrying out the act of insertion.
Lawyers familiar with the incident opined that this was definitely rape. “There is video evidence of what happened. It does not matter if the rape was executed using tools like hands or sticks, as long as the rape happened,” said Salma Ali, eminent women’s rights lawyer.
