Four members of the Bangladesh Railway Police have been withdrawn from duty and attached to the Paksey Railway Police Lines after a woman was allegedly raped inside the catering car of a moving intercity train. Authorities confirmed the administrative action on Wednesday, stating that a comprehensive investigation is underway to determine the extent of the officers’ involvement in the crime.
The incident occurred on Monday morning aboard the Kurigram Express as it was travelling from Dhaka towards Kurigram. According to the First Information Report (FIR) and statements from the railway police, the survivor was taken to the train’s dining car while the service was passing through the Natore region. She was subsequently assaulted by multiple individuals, including a member of the train’s catering staff.
Alerted by her cries for help, fellow passengers rushed to the catering compartment, intervened, and detained one suspect at the scene. The individual, identified as 22-year-old Abu Bakkar Siddique—a catering attendant and son of the late Masud Rana from Abdulpur village in Natore’s Lalpur upazila—was handed over to the authorities. He was formally arrested by the Santahar Railway Police and remanded in custody by a court on Tuesday morning.
Following the assault, the survivor personally filed a case under the Prevention of Oppression Against Women and Children Act. The formal complaint names five individuals as accused, explicitly alleging that two on-duty railway police personnel were directly involved alongside other accomplices.
Santahar Railway Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Dulal Uddin confirmed that all four police personnel assigned to guard the train during that journey have been relieved of their duties to ensure an unhindered probe. OC Uddin emphasised that investigators are actively examining whether any officers actively participated in the offence or facilitated it through negligence. Strict departmental and legal measures will follow if the allegations are substantiated.
This distressing event on a major long-distance route has raised sharp concerns regarding passenger safety, highlighting vulnerabilities in the security monitoring of private catering staff and the oversight of law enforcement personnel deployed on state railway networks. Legal proceedings against the arrested suspect remain ongoing as investigators gather forensic evidence and witness testimony.
