Raped Teen's Death
HC summons three Comilla policemen
The High Court yesterday summoned three officers of Comilla Sadar Police Station to appear before it on February 22 to explain their conducts about recording a case against the death of a teenage school student who was allegedly raped and set afire.
An HC bench of Justice M Imman Ali and Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif passed the order in response to a writ petition filed by Bangladesh Human Rights Foundation (BHRF) seeking necessary directives to police to deal with the case incorporating proper charges.
Officer-in-charge of Comilla Sadar Police Station and two of its officers dealing with the case over the death of a class VIII student at Matankur Paschimpara High School there have to appear in the court to explain why they have not implicated the charges of rape and torture in the case.
The petition was filed following a report published in The Daily Star on January 26 headlined “Brutality beats the beast”.
According to the report, the victim became pregnant after Abu Taleb, her 35-year-old neighbour, raped her. Taleb allegedly set her on fire to destroy the evidence of his crime.
The victim, who was into the seventh month of her pregnancy, was under treatment at DMCH with about 76 percent of her body burned on January 26. She died on January 31.
BHRF chief Alena Khan told The Daily Star that the police officers have recorded a case in connection with the incident, but brought the charge of only burning her by acid in the statement.
The case has to be filed under Women and Children Repression Prevention Act (Amendment) 2003 on charge of rape and other relevant offences, so that the accused cannot get any benefit of doubt, she said.
Earlier on January 28, the same HC bench ordered the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Dhaka to record statements of the victim, and ruled on the government to explain why its inefficiency in protecting the girl should not be declared illegal.
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