A man claims he was beaten by police in Manikganj’s Shibaloy after he tried to report the attempted rape of his daughter, bdnews24.com reports.
The officer-on-duty at the time, Sub-Inspector Arif Hossain, has been recalled after the incident at Shibaloy Police Station on Saturday night, according to district Additional Superintendent of Police Nurjahan Labni.
The victim of the beating is a native of Shibaloy, but lives in Dhaka with his wife for work. However, his five-year-old daughter lives with her grandmother in Shibaloy.
He alleges that on Jul 20, a local man named Rajjab Khan attempted to rape her and was seen by the child’s grandmother. Rajjab is currently on the run.
The incident was reported to the village leaders, but no action was taken against the suspect because his brother has ties to the local unit of the Awami League, the child’s parents say. Instead, the family was threatened to keep quiet.
The father told the media that he filed a written complaint to the police station on Aug 24 and was assured that it would be investigated.
But, after the police took no action for a week, the family went to the police station on Saturday. Md Shahin, the officer in charge of the station, was not there at the time.
“The victim’s father told SI Arif about the incident, but he did not believe him,” Shahin said. “At one point in their conversation he grabbed him by his shirt collar, dragged him to another room and beat him with his hands, kicked him and hit him in the stomach with a stick. The man was injured on his head, hands, and other parts of his body.”
The man, while still injured, took his wife and daughter to the office of the Manikganj superintendent of police and the Shibaloy Circle additional superintendent of police.
Additional Superintendent of Police Nurjahan Labni assured the family that both the rape attempt and the police assault would be investigated.
“We are recommending that departmental action be taken against SI Arif.”
A case has been filed over the rape attempt and police are working to arrest the perpetrator, OC Shahin said.