Abducted indigenous girl traceless for 12 days

An indigenous schoolgirl, abducted from Durgapur village in Sakhipur upazila of the district on the night of July 9, still remains traceless.

The victim, a class IX student of Chhotomousha High School in the upazila, was picked up by a gang when she came out of her maternal uncle's house at around 6:00pm.

Victim's father filed a case with Sakhipur Police Station the following day accusing Lavlu Miah, 30, his sister Mazeda Begum, 34, Lavlu's accomplices Ripon Miah, 25, and Illias Hossain, 35. They all are from the same village.

Police could not rescue the girl and arrest any of the gang members as of filing of this report at 5:00pm yesterday.

Indigenous people formed a human chain at Sakhipur upazila headquarters yesterday, demanding immediate steps to rescue the girl.

Around 400 people under the banner of 'Tribal Welfare Association' joined the human chain programme at Sakhipur upazila headquarters at noon.

Addressing a rally at the venue, the speakers demanded that law enforcers take immediate steps to rescue the girls. They also gave a 72-hour ultimatum to local police administrations to rescue the girl and arrest the abductors.

Local indigenous leaders Robindra Barman and Hemanto Barman, Sakhipur municipality Mayor Abu Hanif Azad, upazila commander of freedom fighters  M A Gani, upazila BNP General Secretary Shajahan Saju and local elite BK Chowdhury addressed the rally.

Contacted, Muhammad Ilias, officer-in-charge of Sakhipur Police Station, said drive is on to rescue the girl and arrest the accused in the case.