Magura child rape: 8-year-old moved to CMH as police arrest 4, including her sister's husband, father-in-law

Highlights:

• Case filed at Magura Sadar Police Station against 4 people
• Husband, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law of the victim's sister arrested
• Sister's husband allegedly helped his father to rape the child
• 8-year-old victim moved to CMH in Dhaka for better treatment
• The child is in critical condition; medical board formed
• Doctors confirm signs of 'brutal torture'
• The incident took place last Wednesday night (5 March)

A case has been filed over the brutal rape of an eight-year-old girl in Magura Sadar Upazila and four of the accused, including her sister's husband and father-in-law, who were already in police custody have been shown arrested.

The case was filed at Sadar Police Station under Sections 9(4) and 30 of the Women and Child Repression Prevention Act this afternoon (8 March), accusing the suspects of rape and causing injury as a result of the assault, the district's Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Md Mirajul Islam told Prothom Alo.

He said the husband, father-in-law, mother-in-law, and brother-in-law of the victim's sister have been accused. "They were already in police custody and have been shown arrested in the case."

"This morning, the child's mother sent a complaint to the police station through her husband and eldest daughter. Accordingly, the case has been registered. The child is undergoing treatment in Dhaka," Mirajul added.

Meanwhile, the third-grader, who has been undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) for the past two days, was transferred to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka this afternoon, DMCH Deputy Director Ashraful Alam told The Business Standard.

"Due to the child's critical condition, she was moved to CMH for better treatment based on the advice of the medical board formed to treat her and the direction of Sharmeen S Murshid, Adviser to the Ministry of Social Welfare," he said.

Ashraful Alam further said the ambulance carrying the child and a team of doctors went to CMH at around 5pm. "The child is receiving the best possible medical care as per the advice of the medical board."

Father, son worked together, alleges child's mother

Meanwhile, in the First Information Report, which the police registered as a case at around 3pm, the child's mother alleged that her eldest daughter's husband helped his father rape the eight-year-old.

She claimed that her daughter's mother-in-law and brother-in-law were also aware of the incident and they even attempted to cover up the matter, reports Prothom Alo. The family also tried to kill the child, alleged the mother.

The four accused have been identified as the victim's sister's father-in-law Hitu Sheikh, 42, husband Sajib Sheikh, 18, mother-in-law Jaheda Khatun, 45, and brother-in-law Ratul Sheikh, 20.

In the case document, the plaintiff stated that on 5 March at around 10pm, the child went to sleep in the same room with her elder sister and her husband after eating dinner. At around 2:30am, the elder sister woke up and saw that her younger sister was lying on the floor. At that time, the child told her elder sister that she was feeling burning sensation on her genital area. But the elder sister thought that the child was babbling in her sleep. Then at around 6am, the child again told her sister about the burning sensation. When asked why, she told her sister that when her brother-in-law Sajib Sheikh opened the door at night, her father-in-law Hitu Sheikh grabbed her and took her to his room and raped her. When she tried to scream, he grabbed her throat. Later, he left her on the floor of her sister's room. 

The complaint further states that after learning about the incident, when the child's elder sister went to inform her mother about the matter on her mobile phone, her husband took away her mobile phone and beat her. He threatened to kill the child if she tells anyone about the incident and locked the two sisters in two separate rooms. In the morning, when a female neighbour named Zohra came to the house, the sister's brother-in-law Ratul Sheikh opened the door. Then, an attempt was made to cure the child by pouring water on the head. When the child's condition deteriorated around 10:30am, the sister's mother-in-law, with the help of other neighbours, took her to a hospital in Magura. There, the doctors were told that the girl had been strangled. However, when the doctors and others realised the matter, the mother-in-law fled the hospital. Later, the plaintiff went to the hospital.

Multiple sources involved in the investigation of the case said the husband, the father-in-law, and the brother-in-law who were arrested have denied being involved in the incident, and were giving incoherent and contradictory statements. According to the police, the victim's statement could not be obtained as the child was taken to the hospital unconscious. However, a DNA sample has been collected.

Meanwhile, the child's elder sister told reporters, "An incident happened to me about 20 days ago. That evening, no one was home. I turned on the light in the house and went to the toilet. When I returned from the toilet, I found the light in the house was off. Suddenly, someone hugged me from behind. I realised from his height and other things that he was my father-in-law. When I told my husband about it, he told me it was nonsense. I talked about it at my home too. When I went home, I didn't want to go back to my father-in-law's house. But they convinced me to go back. I was always afraid that something worse than that incident would happen. That's why they sent my younger sister with me." 

She added that she had heard from people in the area that her father-in-law had done such things to two girls before.

According to the case document, the elder sister was married four months ago to Sajib Sheikh. Since the marriage, Hitu had been making inappropriate proposals to her. The other family members were aware of this, and it had led to arguments.

In such circumstances, on 1 March, the eight-year-old girl, who lived with her family in a village in Sreepur Upazila, went to visit her sister at her in-laws' house in the Nijnanduali area under Magura Municipality.

Hitu Sheikh allegedly raped the child while she was sleeping on Wednesday night (5 March). The child's brother-in-law was also allegedly involved.

Hearing her screams, family members and neighbours rushed in and found her in a critically injured state.

Signs of 'brutal torture'

The child was first taken to Magura 250-Bed General Hospital before being moved to Faridpur Medical College Hospital due to the severity of her condition.

Later, the child was admitted to DMCH in an unconscious state on Thursday evening (6 March). As her condition deteriorated last night (7 March), she was transferred from the hospital's gynaecology department to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Earlier today, DMCH director Brig Gen Md Asaduzzaman said the child's condition was critical and she was on ventilator support. "The child has wounds in her genitals due to brutal torture. Her throat injury is also severe."

A medical board comprising doctors from the gynaecology and anaesthesiology departments was formed to oversee her treatment.

Meanwhile, Tarique Rahman, the acting chairman of BNP, has assured the child's family of bearing all the responsibility for the treatment of the child.

He talked to her mother over the phone today and assured her of providing all kinds of support in this regard, according to a post shared on the Facebook page of BNP Media Cell this afternoon.