A woman was gang-raped on the hostel premises of MC College in Sylhet. The incident took place on Friday evening when she was visiting the place with her husband.
The woman’s husband filed a case against eight to nine people citing six names with Shahporan Police Station, said Officer-in-Charge (OC) Abdul Kayum Chowdhury.
Police have identified the perpetrators and are now conducting drives to arrest them, said Jyotirmoy Sarker, additional deputy commissioner (media) of Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP).
The accused are Saifur Rahman, Mahbuur Rahman Rony, Tarek Ahmad, Arjun Laskar, Robiul Islam and Mahfuzur Rahman Masum.
Of the accused, only Mahfuzur Rahman Masum is a current student of the college and the remaining five had their studentship cancelled several years ago, said Saleh Ahmed, principal of MC College.
All of the accused students have been staying at the hostel although the institution and its dormitory were closed for months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to campus sources, they are all followers of Ranjit Sarker, former youth and sports affairs secretary of Sylhet district unit of Awami League, but they do not hold any post as there aren’t any committees of the unit in the college.
Police conducted a drive at the hostel early on Saturday and recovered a locally-made gun, four machetes, and a knife from the room of Saifur.
It was known that the woman along with her husband was visiting the college campus. At one point, their car was intercepted by a group of youths. They forcefully dragged the woman’s husband out of the car and bound him down near the hostel, before raping her inside the car, said police.
On information, police rushed to the spot and rescued the couple at about 10:30pm and admitted the woman to the One-stop Crisis Centre at Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College and Hospital.
The incident triggers protest among the students and people of Sylhet. Agitated students on Saturday gathered at MC College and staged demonstration against the heinous gang-rape incident inside the college premises. The students set fire on the road, in front of the college. Additional policemen were deployed to avoid any untoward situation at the area.
Students and common people also staged demonstrations in different other parts in Sylhet.
Meanwhile, a three-member probe committee was formed over the incident. The committee headed by Prof Anwar Hossain has been asked to submit its report within a week after the decision was taken at a meeting of the college academic council.
Meanwhile, Mahfuzur Rahman Masum, one of the accused and a student of the college, has been suspended from the college. Besides, two guards responsible for college security have also been suspended for their negligence in duty.