Dhaka, May 15, 2016: Bristi Rani, aged 11, a Hindu girl has been kidnapped by perpetrators on 08.05.2016 with the intention of rape and forceful conversion.
Bangladesh Minority Watch (BDMW) is investigating the case and as per the information it released, this Hindu kid was the student of class VII Pang Nagar A.M. Secondary High School situated in the Shibgonj Upazila at Bogra District.
On May 8, 2016, the victim was studying in her home, when one girl named Shirina Khatun called the Bristi Rani from her room and lured her to a nearby road where the accused were waiting and as soon as she arrived they forced her into a micro bus and took her away to an destination.
The names of the perpetrators are:
1) Md. Azizul Sheikh (25) son of Md.Anwar Hossain Sheikh
2) Md. Belal Hosszin(27) son of Md.Helal Hossain
3) Md. Shariful Islam Sheikh (55) son of Noor Nabi
4) Md. Helal Hossain Sheikh (37) son of late Shamsuddin
5)Md. Md.Anwar Hossain Sheikh (60) son of
6) Ms.Zaheda Begum (60)
7) Ms. Shirina Khatun (15)
The kidnapping was seen by some bystanders but they were outnumbered and the micro bus sped away.
The father and the mother of the victim, worried about their daughter, went from house to house of the perpetrators but they were unavailable.
Eventually, Amal Chandra – father of the Hindu girl, lodged an FIR at the Shibgonj police station in writing on 10th May, 2016 for the recovery of his minor daughter.
Accordingly a case, no.13 dated 10.05.2016 under section 7/30 of Women and Children Repression Act, 2003 has been started against the kidnappers.
When the BDMW requested Md. Ahasan Habib- Officer in Charge of Shibgonj on more information he directed the team to Mohammad Shamim Hossain- S.I. of Police .
But what is worrisome is the attitude of the police, Md. Ahasan Habib reportedly gave a standardized reply and said that the “the incident was a love elopement and not an incident of kidnapping.”
However, when pressed further he said that he had no knowledge whether the victim was a minor children or not. BDMW then scrutinized the birth certificate of the minor Hindu girl whose date of birth was recorded as 20.11.2004, so as per law, a minor girl, even a Hindu, cannot give consent of marriage under Child Marriage Act. However, it is also true that minor Hindu girls often never unite with their families due to discrimination.