The health reports of the second-year Dhaka University student confirms that she was raped, said doctors.
Dhaka University Medical College Hospital (DMCH) Forensic Department chief Dr Sohel Mahmud said on Monday (Jan 6) that the victim also bore signs of assault.
“At one point the victim lost consciousness. When she regained consciousness she saw that the rapist was still there,” he said.
He added that she fled when she saw the rapist looking for something in her bag.
One person behind the incident
Gulshan Zone Deputy Commissioner Sudeep Chakraborty said that the victim has accused one person over the incident.
“The OC, AC [Additional Commissioner] Cantonment, have spoken to the victim several times from Sunday morning,” he said while briefing the media on Monday.
He added that the victim’s father has filed a case against one person and the law enforcers were trying to identify the perpetrator.
He said that so far as evidence they have collected the victim’s clothes, shoes, inhaler and watch and the Criminal Investigation Department is collecting more evidence.
The DC added that so far they haven’t found evidence to identify the rapist.
Saying that the scene where the incident took place is a secured area, he said, “It’s a busy road, no one stops here.”
Responding to queries on incidents of mugging reported from the area, he said, that bushes are in the area for beautification but the area is otherwise secure.
“Police regularly patrol the area. Since the Golf Garden and the airport is nearby, the security is taken seriously,” he said.
Medical board formed
DMCH Director AKM Nasir Uddin said that a seven-member medical formed for the victim’s treatment.
He added that she is an asthma patient and her body retains injuries, she is more traumatised mentally.
Case opened with Cantonment police
The victim’s father filed a case against unidentified people with Cantonment police on Monday morning.
A Cantonment police employee wishing to remain anonymous said that police identified the scene with the help of a few classmates of the victim.
He added that police were trying to recover CCTV footage of the area and the DU BTRC bus driver will also be questioned.
DU VC vows to ensure justice
Dhaka University Vice Chancellor Md Akhtaruzzaman said that the university authorities will do everything to ensure justice for the victims.
“It’s our first priority to stand beside the girl,” he told the media after visiting the victim at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) One-Stop Crisis Centre.
He said that the police were alert and called on the law enforcers to arrest the perpetrators as soon as possible.
He added that the university will extend the victim all the support she needs.
Meanwhile, Vice Chancellor Mohammad Samad who also visited the victim termed the incident as unfortunate and shameful.
He said that the girl was assaulted before being raped and demanded that the perpetrators be brought to justice.
“We are worried about the mental trauma she received,” he said before adding DU will bear the cost of her treatment.
Protests across Dhaka
Dhaka University students brought out protest near the crime scene, blocking the airport road and demanding capital punishment for the rapist.
The demonstrators reached Kurmitola around 3:30 pm on Monday and formed a human chain near the crime scene.
“Our classmate is being raped in a busy area when everyone’s talking about the country developing and safe Dhaka,” said DU Physics Department Mehedi Hassan.
An accounting student at DU, Raisul Islam said, “How did an incident like this happen in a place secured by the army?”
Earlier on Monday, the ruling party’s student wing Bangladesh Chhatra League blocked roads adjoining the Teachers-Students Center (TSC) on campus demanding justice for the victim.
Activists of the student body chanted ‘Death penalty to the rapist’, ‘Bangabandhu’s Bangla, not for rapists’ during the protest.
BCL top leaders including President Al Nahian Khan Joy, General Secretary Lekhak Bhattacharjee, DU unit President Sanjit Chandra Das participated in the demonstration.
Moreover, leaders and activists of Sadharon Chhatra Odhikar Songrokkhon Parishad blocked Shahbag intersection chanting ‘We want justice.'
The student body’s top leader Nurul Hauqe Nur, also Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) vice president and joint convener Rashed Khan joined the blockade.
On Sunday (Jan 5), the victim, second-year student at DU was followed by an unknown person after getting down from the bus at Kurmitola bus stand.
Her classmate said that she was picked up midway around 7 to 8 pm and taken to a nearby quiet place and raped.
She regained consciousness around 10 pm after which she went to her friend's house from where she was admitted to DMCH around midnight.
