Dhaka (AsiaNews) - More than 100 Christians and Muslims demonstrated yesterday in Dhaka against the gang rape suffered by a young Catholic woman. The violence took place on April 14 in Mohammadour , a district of the capital, during the celebration of the Bengali New Year. She was attacked by four Muslim boys . The victim, a 21-year old ethnic Garo , survived and reported them.
The young woman
called Mary Thigidi Purnima and is native of the parish of Mariamnagar , in the
diocese of Mymensingh . She works in Dhaka as a beautician in the
"Person" beauty center.
On the day of the attack the victim was going to celebrate with a cousin when
four Muslim boys accosted her, dragged her away and raped her. After the
violence Purnima was able to call her brother in law, who was looking for her .
After finding her, the girl filed a complaint against her attackers and one of
them - Alif Ahmed - has already been arrested . The police is on the trail of
the others.
The girl and her family do not feel protected: the relatives of the rapists continue to threaten them, warning them to drop the charges. But Purnima explains: "Many girls do not report rapes out of fear, but that's why so many perpetrators remain free. Instead I want them to be brought before the courts".
Among those
present at yesterday's event were many Christian students, and even some
Muslims. The protest was organized by the Bangladesh Garo Chatra Sangathan
(BGCS), a Garo tribal student organization. The President Sabuj Nokrek told AsiaNews
: " If the tribal women are raped , the police do not want to deal with
the case. The don't investigate properly or provide security to the families of
the victims. This worries us".
According to data released during the protest , since the beginning of 2014 at
least nine tribal women have suffered sexual violence , and two of them were
killed after the attack . In 2013, a total of 67 tribal women and girls were
raped .