Bangladesh: 11 year old girl raped by police

Source: Spencer Platt/Getty Images AsiaPac)

( September 10, 2012, Dhaka, Sri Lanka Guardian) Ruma (name changed), an 11-year-old girl from an indigenous community named Ruma was raped by a police constable on August 21st, 2012. The crime was committed in the afternoon, at around 2:30 pm, when Ruma was grazing family cattle in the Atal Tila Noymile area, which falls under the jurisdiction of Dighinala police station in Khagrachhari District of Bangladesh. The rapist policeman has been identified as Md. Russle Rana, attached to the Atal Tila police camp.

According to the AHRC, a rights group based in Hong Kong, on the afternoon of August 21st, Miss Ruma, along with her 8 year old sister, left Tapan Karbari Para Village that falls under the Merung Union Parishad in order to graze cows near the Ataltila police camp at Noymile area. Ruma went to collect greens and herbs from a place near the Atal Tila police camp while her younger sister was grazing the cattle few hundred meters away. Police Constable Md. Russle Rana saw Ruma alone in the area and forcefully took her behind a bush adjacent to the police camp, where he raped her. The policeman struck Ruma on the right hand and right leg with a stick before raping her.

Ruma was left lying in the bush for a while. She later returned home, still bleeding from the rape. Ruma's mother Ms. Nitya Bala Tripura heard the story from her daughter and went to the Atal Tila police camp. She insisted that the on-duty police officer Sub Inspector Mr. Md. Shah Alam register a complaint regarding the rape of her daughter by police constable Md. Russle Rana. Instead of registering Nitya's complaint, the police officer offered her BDT 1,000.00 (USD $ 12) to settle the matter.

Having been refused by the police, Ms. Nitya Bala Tripura contacted the local village head Mr. Tapan Tripura Karbari of the Noymile village. The Tripura Students' Forum, an association of students of the Tripura indigenous community, came to know about the crime. At this stage, the indigenous villagers gathered at the police camp and demanded arrest of the rapist policeman. Due to tremendous pressure from the local people, the police authorities declared that they had withdrawn the alleged rapist Md. Rasel Rana from the police camp and sent him to the police barrack of the district. The local people continued demanding arrest of the policeman, which has not yet been done.

The local pressure helped Nitya Bala Tripura file a rape case (No. 3, date August 21st, 2012) under Section 9(1) of Women and Child Repression (Prevention) Act 2000 on the same night with the Dighinala police station. Ruma was taken to the Dighinala Hospital on the same night for medical examination. Later, the doctors transferred her to the Khagrachhari Sadar Hospital, where the doctors confirmed evidence of rape. Since then, Ruma has received medical treatment at the hospital to heal her injuries.