Police today pressed charges against 13 people including Sramik League leader Tufan Sarkar in the cases filed over rape of a schoolgirl and torture of her mother.

Abul Kalam Azad, inspector (operation) of Bogra Police Station and investigation officer (IO) of the cases, submitted the charge sheet to Senior Judicial Magistrate Mohammad Kamruzzaman around 6:45pm, reports our local correspondent quoting Superintendent of Police in Bogra Md Asaduzzaman.

According to the charge sheet, the accused in the rape case are: Tufan Sarkar, 37, his wife Tasmin alias Asha, 20, Asha’s elder sister and woman councillor of the municipality Marjia Hasan Rumki, 35, Asha’s mother Lovely Rahman alias Rumi, 52, Tufan’s cohorts Md Atikur Rahman Atik, 25, Munna, 24, Ali Azam Dipu, 25, Mehedi Hasan alias Rupam, 26, Samiul Haque alias Shimul, 25, and Emarot Alam Khan alias Jitu, 23.   

In the other case filed over torture of the victim and her mother, Tufan’s father –in-law Jamilur Rahman,60, a barbar Jiban Rabi Das alias Jatin, 27, and one Anjuara Begum,55, of Badurtola area, were made accused along with the 10 also accused in the rape case.

Among the accused, Shimul and Anjuara are absconding while the other 11 were shown arrested in the cases.

On July 17, Bogra town Sramik League convenor Tufan Sarker abducted the female student from her home, raped her and then asked his party cadres to make sure everything was hushed up.

They, in their attempt to muffle the victim, picked up the student and her mother, tortured them for four hours and then shaved their heads.

Later, the victim’s mother filed a rape case against 10 people and a torture case under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act- 2000 against 13 people, including Tufan, his wife Asha Sarkar, and Asha's elder sister and woman councillor Rumki.