Published :
Updated :
For all latest news, follow The Financial Express Google News channel.
Police have responded to questions over their failure to make any arrests in the rape case against former DUCSU vice-president Nurul Haque Nur and five other anti-quota movement leaders.
They say they are focusing on key suspects Hasan Al Mamun and Nazmul Hasan Sohag, both “fugitives”.
Nur has attended events in past few days but police say they need more evidence to arrest him, reports bdnews24.com.
The alleged victim, a student of Dhaka University’s Islamic studies who had been involved in the anti-quota movement, has accused Mamun of raping her in January with the promise of marriage.
Mamun is a student of the same department. He was suspended by the Bangladesh Council to Protect General Students’ Rights, a platform that organised the movement, as its convenor after the rape allegation surfaced.
Sohag is also accused of raping the young woman promising her help.
Nur faces charges of making threats of defaming her after delaying the process of trial with a false promise of justice.
The three others - Saiful Islam, Nazmul Huda and Abdullah Hil Baki – are charged with abetting the crimes.
The woman started three cases with the police at Kotwali, Lalbagh and Shahbagh in the capital.
She has brought charges of rape under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, and defamation and cyber-bullying under the Digital Security Act.
Mizanur Rahman, the OC of Kotwali Police Station, said they have failed to track Sohag in their bid to arrest him.
M Ashraf Uddin, the chief of Lalbagh police, said their target is to arrest Mamun.
When asked about Nur’s presence in recent programmes, Md Walid Hossain, a deputy commissioner and spokesperson for Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said making arrest is not mandatory.
“We need to see how much truth is there in the allegations. We are doing that right now. We will take necessary steps once we get the evidence,” he added.
The alleged victim had sought Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s help to get justice.
She had also threatened to take her own life if the six are not tried.
She began a hunger strike at the Raju Memorial on the campus on Thursday night demanding arrest of the accused as protests continued to rock the capital over recent incidents of sexual violence against women.
“Why no one has been arrested 17 days after the filing of the case. I think police are biased because the accused are influential,” she said.