The law enforcers today arrested three staffers of a bus in connection with an incident of gang-rape on a running bus in Bhogra area of Gazipur.

The arrestees are Amir Hossain (27), Amit Shil (22) and Mozammel (23), reports our Gazipur correspondent quoting police.

The arrestees have confessed to the crimes after they were produced before a Gazipur court, said Nandalal Chowdhury, inspector (investigation) of Bason Police Station under Gazipur Metropolitan Police.

The accused were sent to jail after recording of their confessional statement, he said.

The incident took place on February 12 midnight near Bhogra Bridge area on Dhaka Bypass Road, the police official said.

The victim and another woman boarded the bus from Tongi to go to Gazipur. Near Bhogra intersection on the road, the other passengers were dropped leaving the two women alone. As they tried to get off the bus, the staffers closed the door and tied up the older woman and violated the other, threatening to kill them if they protested.

Next morning, the culprits left the women on the bus and fled the scene. Locals later rescued the women after hearing their screams.

On information, police seized the bus and conducted a drive in the city and arrested the trio from different areas.

The victim's companion filed a case in connection with the incident with the police station on Thursday.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today called upon the people of the country to stand against the violence spree centering the December 30 election.

"We call upon the countrymen as well as the Election Commission to bring an end to this violence," Mirza Fakhrul said at a press brief at a Cumilla restaurant, on his way to Noakhali today.

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He is going to Noakhali to visit the woman who was raped at midnight of December 31.

The BNP leader condemned the rape incident and said this is an example of the pre and post-polls violence spree all across the country.

Awami League and the country's administration turned into public enemies through stealing votes in this election yet again, he further said.

What happened in Noakhali?

A mother of four was gang-raped in Noakhali's Subarnachar area on December 31 allegedly by 10 to 12 Awami League activists.

The 35-year-old woman, who was being treated at Noakhali General Hospital with severe injuries, claimed that she was raped for voting for "sheaf of paddy", the electoral symbol of the BNP, during Sunday's national polls. 

The woman alleged the rapists were accomplices of Ruhul Amin, a former member of Char Jubilee Union Parishad. "They had repeatedly insisted that I should vote for boat [the AL's symbol] but I cast my ballot for 'sheaf of paddy'," she said.

A 14-year-old girl has reportedly been gang-raped in Dhaka's Kaula area.

She was admitted to the one-stop crisis centre in Dhaka Medical College Hospital around 5:00am today, said Inspector Bachchu Miah, in-charge of DMCH police outpost.

Quoting a boy who took the victim to the hospital, Bachchu Miah said the girl is homeless and often used to sleep at Biman Bandar Rail Station.

Three youths took the girl to an isolated place in Kaula area around 2:30am and raped her, Bachchu Miah quoted the boy as saying.

Contacted, Officer-in-Charge of Airport Police Station, Forman Ali, told reporters this morning that they heard the news and were trying to learn details about the incident.  

A teenage girl has been gang-raped by three youths after a female friend of the victim took her to a house in Kamrangirchar area of the capital.

Police arrested two alleged boys, aged bellow 18, hours after victim’s sister filed a rape case with Kamragnairchar Police Station on last night, Mostafa Anwar, inspector (investigation) of the police station, told The Daily Star today.   

The law enforcers also arrested another boy for assisting the duo.

The victim, an employee of a local shop, was sent to one-stop crisis centre at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) today for forensic test.

Quoting the case statement, the police officer said the girl used to live in Nabinagar area. On Friday night, one of her friends took her to a nearby house where three youths raped her.

Police are trying to arrest another boy, who is on the run, he said.

Asked about the delay in filing case, Mostaf said the family did not come to the police station as they tried to suppress the incident in fear of losing honour.

Now, they want justice as the rape incident spread in the locality, police said.

The High Court yesterday issued a rule asking the government to explain why a scheme for interim compensation for rape victims should not be made.

The HC rule also asked why the authority should not be instructed to formulate guidelines to ensure that women, girls and children are safe and not prone to sexual abuse in any public vehicles and places. 

The rules came following a writ petition filed by the Children’s Charity Bangladesh Foundation.

In the petition, the child rights organisation said punishment of those guilty was not the only step in providing justice to rape victims who suffer irreparable loss -- both psychological and physical. In many cases, rape leads to death or life-long disabilities.

It also sought Tk 50 lakh compensation for the families of two gang-rape victims.

Barrister Md Abdul Halim, who filed the petition on behalf of the rights organisation, said an alarming number of rape victims were children. “They face social stigma in every phase of their lives as they grow up…”

Explaining interim compensation, he said the victims should be compensated during the trial period.

The government should ensure that victims get social and financial support to help them overcome trauma and all other barriers, he added.

There are systemic or other failures for crimes remaining unpunished, the petitioner said, adding that when the state fails to identify the accused or collect and present acceptable evidence against the criminals, the duty to compensate remains.

Referring to what the Indian Supreme Court said in several cases, the petitioner said the state’s responsibility does not end merely by registering a case, conducting investigation and initiating prosecution.

“The responsibility for rehabilitation of the victim remains and hence, the right to compensation remains for the victim.”

The HC also issued a rule asking the government to explain in four weeks why it should not be directed to give Tk 50 lakh each to the families of Shahinoor Akhter Tania and Sumaiya Akhter, who had been gang-raped in Kishoreganj and Rajshahi.

Shahinoor Akther Tania, who worked at Ibne Sina Hospital’s Kalyanpur branch in the capital, was raped and murdered in a passenger bus on her way home in Kishoreganj’s Katiadi upazila.

Sumaiya Akhter, 14, of Mohanpur upazila in Rajshahi, died by suicide after she was gang-raped on April 17, according to the writ petition.

The respondents to the rule were secretaries to the ministries of home, children and women, health and family planning, road transport and bridges, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, chairman and director of National Legal Aid Services Organization, inspector general of police, superintendents of police of Kishoreganj and Rajshahi, officers-in-charge of Bajitpur Police Station in Kishoreganj and Mohanpur Police Station in Rajshahi.