Hill Voice, 30 September 2020, Rajshahi: Catholic Father Pradip Gregory has been arrested for allegedly raping a 13-year-old seventh-grade indigenous Santal girl detaining her in a Catholic church in Rajshahi’s Tanore Upazila for three days.
Additional Superintendent of Police ATM Mainul Islam, Company Commander of RAB-5 CPSC, confirmed the information and said that a team of RAB-5 arrested Father Pradip Gregory from Amchattar area of Shahmakhdum Police Station in a raid on 29 September 2020 Tuesday night.
Earlier on Tuesday night, a case was filed against Father Pradip with Tanore police station in Rajshahi for allegedly raping the girl in the church. The case was filed by the teenager’s brother Swapan Hasda.
The case alleges that a seventh-grade girl from Mahalipara, adjacent to the church, went to mow the grass inside the Saint John Mary Vianni church at Mundumala in Tanore on the morning of 26 September for cattle. But at the end of the day, the teenager did not return home.
Family members could not be found in the field and in various neighborhoods. As a result, the girl’s brother filed a general diary on 27 September with Mundumala police sinvestigation center about her sister’s disappearance. Later on 28 September at noon, some local indigenous people received news that the missing teenager was being held inside the church.
When they informed the police about the incident, OC of Tanore Police Station Rakibul Hasan raided the church that night and rescued the girl from Father’s room. He was later taken into police custody. During the initial interrogation by the police, the teenager alleged that Father Pradip kept her inside the church for three days and raped her more than once.
On the other hand, after the case was recorded, the girl was admitted to the One Stop Crisis Center (OCC) of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital for medical and legal assistance.
