En masse raping, a social disease is spreading like an epidemic in Bangladesh unabated, yes unabated ! Muslim girls, yes; Hindu girls, yes; Buddhist women, yes; Adibashi teenagers, yes. But our administration, police or civil, either thoroughly incapable or inactive- I don?t know.

Parbatipur Incident

This time it occurred at Parbatipur, an Upazila in Dinajpur district. Date of occurrence is 22^nd May, 2003. The victim is a school going girl of class X of Parbatipur Muktiyodha High school. Her name is Shamchhura Begum, daughter of Abdul Quddus. Abdul Quddus is a cultivator residing in a village Khiarpara adjacent to Barapukuria Thermal Electricity Complex, not more than 8 km from Parbatipur town. Parbatipur was once quite famous for a small beautiful railway township during British Raj. Its streets were straight covered with pitch. Each house, mostly railway colonies, brick red decorated with a garden and a tennis or badminton court. Today this beautiful scenario does not exist any more. The town is as den as any city in BD. Today?s Parbatipur is known for its giant thermo-electric project at Barapukuria and deep-lying stones. The locality bears a mythological tradition of Mahabharata. According to the mythological belief the five brothers of Pandavas did spend the later part of their hiding before they entered the Royal palace of Raja Virata of Matsya Rajya, also situated in this locality. The tradition further says that the Shalmali Tree (a silk-cotton tree) on which the Pandavas tied their weapons hiding under the cover of leaves of the tree was also situated in this locality.

Background story revealed that a man named Sabedur Rahman (40) of neighboring village Shibnagar fell in love with the girl and allegedly carrying on an affair with the girl for the last one year. The residence of Rekha, Shamchhura?s married cousin sister (daughter of mother?s sister i.e. Phuphu) is also located at the village Shibnagar. It is alleged that relation between Shamchhura and Sabedur developed inhere during her occasional visits to Rekha?s house.

A love affair or Lunaticism ?

On the day of 22^nd May the man took Samchhura from her parent?s house to Rekha?s house telling her that they would get married there. He took her to an adjacent dense Shalbana (sal, the Shorea robusta forest) and physically tortured her with his friends. This was followed by en masse raping by him and his beastly accomplices. The girl cried in vain- no one came to her rescue. Eventually she could not take any more and lost her sense. But this was not enough the lunatics killed her. Then they took her dead body to her cousin?s house and left there in the dark night. On the following morning inmates of the house discovered her dead body in front of their door.
It seemed that culprits are quite influential as they managed to hush up the incidence publicizing that it was a case of suicide. A police case was however recorded in Phulbaria police station as a case of suicide by poison. They could even influence the police with the cooperation of local UP chairman and members not to take any case of murder or killing. Her dead body was handed over to the unfortunate father without any postmortem. Her body was buried even without Janaja, a compulsory rituals for a Muslim. The bewildered father Quddus and shocked mother Jobeda Khatun do not know what to do. They are now in total silence. The villagers informed that they saw her dress torn to hundred pieces; the signs of sexual violence and inhuman physical torture were too evident to cover up. But police and village touts led by the so-called elected representatives of our village councils and unions successfully managed to hush up the incident of murdering. Are we not moving to a barbarous society ? Except blaming their fates what else the poor parents do? Where would they go for justice ? It seemed house of justice and fair trail is infinite distance away. And we the so-called human rightists could say lamentably Oh God !

" Those who have poisoned your air, those who have extinguished your light,