One of 5 accused in Pabna college girl rape case held

Police arrested a rapist of a college girl belonging to the Hindu community yesterday morning, 18 days after she was gang-raped.

The victim, 21, hails from Punduria village in Santhia upazila of the district, and is a second-year student of History Department at Pabna Edward College.

She was raped while going to a religious function at the village on March 13.

A case was filed with Santhia Police Station on Monday, accusing four to five people, including Faridul Islam and Hafizul Islam of the village.

Md Nasir Uddin, officer-in-charge (OC) of the police station, said, acting on a tip-off, police arrested Hafizul Islam, 25, son of Alam Bepari of the village, from C&B bus stand area of Bera municipality.

Hafizul, the main accused, had gone into hiding after the incident, the OC said. The arrestee confessed to his involvement in the gang rape, the OC said, adding that the other culprit, Faridul Islam, would be nabbed soon.

Pabna district and upazila units of Puja Udjapan Parishad formed a human chain in Abdul Hamid road of the district headquarters at noon, demanding arrest of the remaining culprits.

Advocate Sanat Kumar Sarkar, Probhash Chandra, Badal Kumar Ghosh, Soumen Shah Banu of Puja Udjapan Parishad, social worker Hasina Akhter Rosy and Toma Islam Pushpo spoke on the occasion.