Politics
Tourist raped in Cox’s Bazar,Rab identifies 3 key suspects from CCTV
Rab yesterday identified three young men suspected of raping a tourist while their cohorts held her husband and child hostage in Cox’s Bazar on Wednesday evening.
The rape incident at the country’s prime tourist destination sparked outrage on social media. Netizens criticised law enforcers for failing to provide safety to tourists.
Rab sources said the suspects identified from CCTV footage are: Ashiqul Islam Ashiq, Israfil Huda Joy, and Mehedi Hasan Babu. All of them are from Madhya Baharchhara in Cox’s Bazar town.
The woman, her husband, and their eight-month-old child went to Cox’s Bazar on holiday on Wednesday morning from the capital.
They checked into a hotel and went to Laboni Beach in the afternoon, reports our correspondent in the district.
While shopping at a nearby market in the evening, the victim’s husband got into an argument with three men, one of whom he had bumped into, the victim told Rab after being rescued.
Her husband at one stage begged pardon and left, she said.
“Later, a group that included the three youths ambushed us near the golf course area. They threatened to stab me and separated me from my husband and child,” said the victim.
“They took away my husband and child in a CNG-run auto rickshaw and took me to a secluded place at knifepoint where they raped me. They threatened to kill my husband and child,” she added.
She said later the men took her to Zia Guest Inn in an auto-rickshaw and gang raped her again confining her to a room on the second floor.
The rapists then left the room, locking it from the outside. They threatened to kill her husband and child if she disclosed the matter to anyone, the victim said.
The victim managed to open a window of the room and contact a hotel guest who unlocked the door.
After she called 999 and Rab-15, Rab officers rescued her around 1:30am yesterday.
The victim’s husband said, “I have apologised to them many times. I even held their hands and feet … but they did not return my wife.
“My wife is not well now. I’m worried about her,” he told The Daily Star yesterday.
Suspect Ashiqul was accused in over a dozen cases, including for murder, robbery, mugging, and extortion, filed previously with Cox’s Bazar Sadar Model Police Station, said Officer-in-Charge Sheikh Munir-ul-Gias.
Joy and Babu were also accused in two and four cases filed earlier, police sources said.
Locals said Ashiqul walked out of jail on bail around three months ago.
Locals said the three men were close aides to Cox’s Bazar Zila Chhatra League President SM Saddam Hossain.
Distancing himself from the trio, Saddam told The Daily Star last night that the men sometimes visited him since he lived in their neighbourhood.
OC Munir said the victim was being treated at a hospital.
Lt Col Khairul Islam Sarkar, commanding officer of Rab -15, said, “We have identified the rapists scrutinising the hotel’s CCTV footage and are conducting drives to arrest them.”
Rab has detained the manager of Zia Guest Inn, Riazuddin Chhoton.
Superintendent of Police in Cox’s Bazar Hasanuzzaman refuted that the victim called 999 for help. He added, “We are looking into how such an incident [gang rape] took place.”
Forensic tests have been carried out on the victim and a case was filed accusing seven people, three of them unidentified, he said.
PROTEST ON
Women’s rights activists Shireen Huq said it is misogyny and banditry at its worst.
“That such an incident is possible is beyond one’s imagination.
“I don’t know whether to cry or to scream. All our protests appear to be falling on deaf ears.”
The absence of rule of law gives licence for the most despicable behaviour from those who assume they are entitled to impunity, she said.
Expressing concern and resentment over the incident, Bangladesh Mahila Parishad demanded a fair probe, immediate arrest of the culprits, and security for the victim’s family.
Jatiya Nari Andolan and Sammilito Samajik Andolan also protested the incident.
ANOTHER RAPED IN BANDARBAN
Police in Lama, Bandarban, are looking for two men accused of rape and abetting rape of a pregnant woman.
Joynal, 32, a resident of Ruposhi Para, with the help of a man who is yet to be identified, tied the 28-year-old woman with a rope and raped her early yesterday, locking her two children in a room, police said, quoting the case filed with Lama Police Station.
Shahidul Islam, officer-in-charge of the police station, said, “Two criminals entered the house around 2:30am. Joynal, a local trader, raped the woman and left the place around 3:00am leaving the woman tied to a tree. We rescued the mother after being informed. We are trying to arrest the criminals.”
The victim’s family sources said the criminals also took away valuables and gold ornaments.
(The photos of the three accused used in this story were provided by Rab)
The government has appointed internationally renowned human rights advocate Irene Khan as Bangladesh’s permanent representative to the United Nations, granting her the rank of state minister.
The Cabinet Division issued a gazette notification on Wednesday confirming her contractual appointment.
According to the notification, Irene Khan will receive the rank, salary, allowances and other benefits of a state minister while serving as Bangladesh’s permanent representative and ambassador to the UN.
She will succeed Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury, the current permanent representative to Bangladesh’s UN Mission. Foreign ministry officials said Chowdhury is set to become the country’s next foreign secretary.
Khan has served as the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression since Aug 1, 2020, becoming the first woman to hold the mandate since it was established in 1993.
An internationally recognised advocate for human rights, gender equality and social justice, she also teaches at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.
She was secretary general of London-based Amnesty International from 2001 to 2009, becoming the first woman to lead the global human rights organisation. During her tenure, Amnesty expanded its work on economic, social and cultural rights alongside political and civil rights, and launched its first global campaign to end violence against women and girls.
From 2012 to 2019, Khan headed the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the rule of law and sustainable development.
She previously served as a visiting professor at the State University of New York Law School in 2011 and as chancellor of the University of Salford in the United Kingdom from 2009 to 2015.
Khan began her professional career with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), where she worked for 21 years in headquarters and field operations, including as chief of mission in India.
She has also served on the World Bank Gender Advisory Council, the UNAIDS High Level Panel on HIV Prevention and Human Rights, and the UN Global Compact Advisory Council. She has been a governing board member of the Overseas Development Institute in the UK, BRAC and Uganda-based Barefoot Law.
Born in Bangladesh, Khan studied at University of Manchester and Harvard Law School. She has received several international honours, including the Sydney Peace Prize, for her contribution to human rights.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh extends curbs on govt-funded foreign travel, tightens rules on official vehicle purchases
The government has extended restrictions on government-funded overseas travel for public officials in the ongoing fiscal year and tightened rules on the purchase of official vehicles as part of efforts to reduce public expenditure.
The Finance Division issued a notification on Wednesday saying the measures are aimed at ensuring the proper use of limited public resources, bringing inflation to a tolerable level and maintaining macroeconomic stability.
Under the directive, government officials and employees will continue to be barred from attending seminars, symposiums and workshops abroad at government expense.
The notification also imposes stricter controls on the purchase of vehicles under both development and operational budgets.
Only vehicles included in the approved Table of Organisation and Equipment (TO&E) that are more than 10 years old may be replaced, it said.
New government institutions will require prior approval from the Finance Division before purchasing TO&E-listed vehicles.
The Finance Division also instructed all government agencies to suspend expenditure from all types of block allocations.
Funding for the purchase of all categories of vehicles, including motor vehicles, watercraft and aircraft, has also been halted.
However, vehicles used for transporting personnel rather than for personal use may be replaced if they are more than a decade old.
Newly established government institutions may also procure such vehicles only with Finance Division approval.
The notification also states that, except for ambulances and vehicles used for security purposes, all replacement or newly purchased government cars and jeeps must be fully electric.
The government said the measures are intended to curb operational spending while supporting broader efforts to maintain fiscal discipline and economic stability.
Environment
Sovereign guarantees limit renegotiation of private power plant contracts: power minister
Power Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood has said the government’s ability to renegotiate costs, including capacity charges, under contracts signed with private power plants by the previous administration is limited because those agreements carry sovereign guarantees.
However, he told parliament on Wednesday that the government is negotiating with power producers to eliminate late payment fees on overdue bills.
The minister made the remarks while responding to a supplementary question from Jamaat lawmaker Mardia Mumtaz during the parliamentary session.
Mardia asked whether the government had a concrete plan to reduce capacity charges, which account for a significant share of electricity subsidies and overall power sector costs despite recent tariff increases.
In reply, Iqbal said the previous government had provided sovereign guarantees in contracts with private power companies.
“A sovereign guarantee is a guarantee by the state. Cancelling such guarantees requires a legal process that takes considerable time,” he said.
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