A 44-year-old woman has accused three people, including two alleged police personnel, of raping her inside the canteen of a moving Kurigram Express train travelling from Dhaka towards Kurigram.
The woman has filed a case under Bangladesh’s Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, according to Dulal Uddin, officer-in-charge of Santahar Railway Police Station in Adamdighi, Bogura. One accused, 22-year-old canteen worker Abu Bakkar Siddique, has been arrested and sent to court.
The other two accused have been listed as unidentified in the case. Police said the woman told them that two police personnel were among those allegedly involved, although their identities and roles have yet to be established.
Abu Bakkar, son of the late Masud Rana, is a resident of Abdulpur village in Lalpur upazila of Natore.
According to police and related sources, the woman is from Sirajganj and had boarded the Kurigram Express in Dhaka. She was reportedly intending to travel to Sirajganj but mistakenly boarded the train without a ticket.
The alleged assault took place while the train was passing through the Natore area, which falls under the jurisdiction of Santahar Railway Police Station, police said.
The woman reportedly cried out for help during the incident. Hearing her screams, several passengers went towards the canteen and rescued her. They detained Abu Bakkar and handed him over to the police.
Dulal Uddin said a case had been filed against three people. One had been arrested, while the remaining two were named as unidentified accused.
“The complainant said two of them were police personnel. The matter is being investigated,” the officer said.
Railway Police Superintendent for the Pakshi region Mehedi Hasan said the woman contacted her son by telephone after the train had passed Natore station. She told him that she had allegedly been raped.
Her son then contacted the national emergency service through 999 and informed the police. Officers subsequently took the woman and the detained canteen worker from Parbatipur railway station to Santahar Railway Police Station, according to the superintendent.
Mehedi Hasan also said Abu Bakkar was produced before a court, where he gave a statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. According to the police, he stated that he alone had been involved in the alleged rape.
The statement will form part of the investigation, while the allegations against the other two accused remain subject to verification through the legal process.
The railway police have formed an investigation committee headed by a circle assistant superintendent of police to examine the incident. The officer in charge of the relevant railway police security team, along with all members of the team, has also been withdrawn from duty in connection with the matter, Mehedi Hasan said.
The incident has also prompted questions over the alleged involvement of police personnel. Local journalists have complained that the police have been reluctant to disclose the identities of the two police members reportedly named by the woman and have not provided detailed information about the case.
Zillur Rahman, president of the Santahar Shahor Press Club, said he personally visited the officer in charge on Monday night to seek information about the incident.
According to Rahman, the officer had said that information would be provided once the case had been formally entered. He and senior journalist Rafiqul Islam Montu subsequently left the police station.
Rahman alleged that the requested information was not provided afterwards and that the officer did not respond to telephone calls. He questioned whether the allegations involving police personnel had contributed to the reluctance to disclose details.
Dulal Uddin rejected the suggestion and said there was no provision for providing case information to journalists before the accused was sent to court.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Shahidul Islam, inspector at the Bogura District Judicial Magistrate Court, confirmed that the court had ordered Abu Bakkar Siddique to be sent to jail.
The investigation will now determine the circumstances surrounding the alleged assault, the identities of the two unidentified accused and whether they were involved. Any allegation against police personnel will also need to be established through evidence and due legal proceedings.
