Hill Voice, 15 March 2023, Khagrachari: An indigenous woman (45) teacher of a government primary school was allegedly raped by a former Bengali teacher named Md Harun-Ar-Rashid (40) in Khagrachari.
The incident of rape took place on 23 February 2023 at Khagrachari Sadar. Although the victim woman did not disclose the incident due to the fear of the rapist’s threat and shame and humiliation, she herself filed a case against the rapist Md. Harun-Ar-Rashid at the Khagrachari Sadar Police Station yesterday (March 14, 2023).
Executive Director of Kapaeeng Foundation Pallab Chakma and Coordinator of Bangladesh Indigenous Women’s Network Falguni Tripura in a joint press statement strongly condemned and protested the rape incident and demanded the immediate arrest and legal action of the culprit.
In the statement, they mentioned that on February 23, 2023, an indigenous woman (45), a government primary school teacher, was raped by Md. Harun-Ar-Rashid (40), a resident of Municipal Ward No.05 under Khagrachari police station while the victim came to Khagrachari Sadar.
It is also mentioned that on the day of the incident, the school teacher who was raped came to her husband who was working in a government office. Knowing that she would come to Khagrachari, the earlier acquaintance Md. Harun-Ar-Rashid repeatedly requested to meet her.
It is to be noted that Harun-Ar-Rashid was a teacher earlier. On the request of Harun-Ar-Rashid, she came to Salim Market under Khagrachari Police Station to meet him and had breakfast with him at Bonoful Restaurant. After breakfast, she was feeling sick, so she expressed her desire to go to her husband’s house. She got into a battery-powered three-wheeler vehicle to go home and Harun-Ar-Rashid also got into that vehicle to take her home. But after getting on the vehicle, the victim school teacher became senseless. After regaining consciousness, the school teacher found herself at Harun-Ar-Rashid’s house and learnt that she has been held for marriage.
According to the victim’s relatives, Harun-or-Rashid forcibly detained her in his house and raped her between 3.30 pm and 8.00 pm and recorded the video on her mobile phone during the rape. Later, Harun-Ar-Rashid took her to her husband’s house and threatened her not to tell anyone about the incident. The school teacher could not tell anyone about this incident due to shame and humiliation. At one point, when she disclosed the incident to the family members, the family members stood by the school teacher who was the victim of the incident and because of their support, she filed a case against Harun-Ar-Rashid with Khagrachari Sadar Police Station on March 14, 22 days after the incident.
