Domestic help sues forester, 11 others on rape charge

Moni Begum flees her master's house after a two-year ordeal

14 September 2009, 17:00 PM

Staff Correspondent, Khulna

A domestic help on Sunday filed a case with Mongla police station in Bagerhat accusing her employer and 11 others of raping her at Choraputia forest office under Chandpai range of east wing of Sundarban forest division. Moni Begum, who escaped from the house of forest officer Nuruzzaman Molla, 42, on September 2 with the help of a boatman was earlier rescued at Mongla town by the activists of Khulna chapter of Bangladesh Human Rights Implementation Committee (BHRIC). She was treated at the Khulna Medical College and Hospital. The 28-year-old woman stated in her case that while serving as domestic help for two years she was raped not only by the forest officer but also by his employees and notorious Sundarbans pirate Zulfiqur Ali Zulu. Daughter of farmer Gahor Ali of village Garhkumarpur under Shyamnagar upazila in Satkhira district, Moni said she was employed at the house of Nuruzzaman in 2007. She alleged that the forest officer never allowed her to go out of his house. "I made several attempts to flee his house but failed as some forest guards kept watch on me round-the-clock. These forest guards also raped me several times", she said in her case. When contacted, DFO (east) Mihir Kumar said he had ordered ACF Md Shahabuddin to initiate a thorough enquiry into the allegations.