A Sylhet court on Wednesday framed charges against eight men in a case of extortion in addition to their earlier indictment in the gang rape of a woman at MC College in Sylhet.
Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal Judge Md Mohitul Haque framed the charges, Public Prosecutor (PP) Rashida Syeda Khanam said.
At that time, the eight accused were produced before the court.
They are Saifur Rahman, Shah Mahbubur Rahman Rony, Tarekul Islam, Arjun Laskar, Ainuddin alias Ainul, and Misbaul Islam Rajon, Rabiul Hasan, and Mahfuzur Rahman Masum.
On January 17 last year, the court separately framed charges against the eight in another case over the gang rape of a woman at the college.
On February 7 of the same year, the High Court directed the authorities to run the trial simultaneously in two separate cases filed for gang rape and extortion at MC College. And so, the statement recording of the rape case did not start even after charge framing.
PP Rashida said statement recording of both cases will run simultaneously now. However, the court did not set any date for statement recording.
On December 3 in 2020, police pressed charges against the eight accused in the two cases.
According to police, they found the direct involvement of six people in the rape while two assisted in the crime.
The accused who were directly involved in the crime were Saifur Rahman, Shah Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman Rony, Tariqul Islam Tarek, Arjun Laskar, Mohammad Ainuddin alias Ainul and Misbaul Islam Rajon.
Rabiul Islam Hasan and Mahfuzur Rahman Masum were accused of assisting them.
Gang-rape at MC College
According to the case statement, a group of youths tied up a man and raped his 25-year-old wife at a dormitory of MC College on September 25 in 2020.
The accused started harassing the 25-year-old as his husband went to a shop in front of MC College, stopping his car.
Next, they forcefully took the couple to one of the hostel buildings of the college, where they allegedly committed the crime.
After police rescued the couple, the victim’s husband filed a case with Shahporan Police Station against nine people mentioning the names of six and three to four unnamed men.
On September 30 that year, the High Court formed an investigation committee to look into the incident.
The accused gave their confessional statements under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure after they were taken to remand.
On November 30 of 2020, police received the DNA report of the MC College gang-rape and found the involvement of some accused arrested over the crime.
Source: United News of Bangladesh