Please - Odhikar

Alleged fabricated news about the rape of
a young girl by Ansar personnel
On March 14, 2005, there was a newspaper report titled "One young girl raped at Police Camp
in Jessore, two Ansar closed, departmental case filed". Odhikar investigated the incident.
Odhikar talked to the local administration, villagers, the so-called victim and a local journalist.
The alleged victim Heera Khatun (16) informed Odhikar that they lived in Adampur village
under Jessore District. On 12 March (Saturday) at around 10-30 am, she went to the nearby
Dhalgaon Bazar to buy a geometry instrument box. While returning home, she went to the house
of Gani who was her relative. At that time two Ansar personnel were eating muri (husked/puffed
rice) in Gani's house. Rini, niece of Gani was Heera's classmate. She returned home after having
a chat with Rini. When she was in Gani's house, two Ansar personnel offered her muri but she
refused. Beside that she had no interaction with them.
She was very shocked when the villagers wanted to force her to acknowledge the incident of
rape. She claimed that no such incident with those Ansars had taken place. She added that only
after the news had been published in newspaper, she came to know that they had raped her.
Joygunnasa, (35) mother of Hera informed Odhikar that she had two sons and one daughter.
Heera, a student of class X was the eldest. Her husband worked in the Benapol Port as a day
laborer and married there for a second time. Rarely did he come to their house and give them
small amounts of money. She could not maintain her family by this little amount of money and
she had to work as a servant in the local police camp. Thus she earned her livelihood and
covered the expenditure of the education for her children. When asked whether Heera was
violated or not, she informed that it was completely a rumor. She had some land conflict with the
neighboring people and they spread this rumor out of enmity. When asked to name those people,
she refused to say anything in this regard.
When asked if she had filed any case or if any medical examination of her daughter had been
done, she said that as no such incident took place at all, there was no question of filing a case.
Foshiar, one of the most senior neighbors of that locality informed Odhikar that he came to
know about this incident from the newspaper the next day. Before reading that, he had not heard
anything from anybody in the village.
A young businessman of Bitabilla Bazar, Arif Hossain (24) informed Odhikar that Herra's
mother Joygunnasa worked as a cook in the camp when SI Saleem alias Mizan was in charge of
the camp. It was loclly known that there was an illicit relationship between SI Mizan and
Joygunnasa. Besides, there was a land dispute between Herra's relative Gani and his neighbors.
That is why neighbors of Gani spread this rumor.
Bachhu Mia (28), one of villagers of the Jamdia village informed Odhikar that on the day of the
alleged incident, at 10:30 am when Heera went to her uncle Gani's house, no one was there. So
what happened there could not be known. But Heera was there for 20 to 25 minutes.
Shefaly Begum, wife of Gani and his mother told Odhikar that on that day they were at home the
Report 2005
101