Four classmates defiled and murdered an O level student of the capital’s Mastermind School in Kalabagan, claims her parents. The student was identified as Anushka Amin Aurna, daughter of Al Amin. Iftekhar Fardin Dihan, main accused in the incident of her rape and murder, has admitted to have committed the crime.
According to the victim’s brother-in-law, like every other day Aurna was going to tuition classes from her residence at Kalabagan at noon. But she was asked to attend a group study session at a friend’s place at Dolphin Goli. After she arrived at his house, Dihan along with Alvi Mahbub, Humayeed Milky and another of their friends “tortured her physically and killed her,” as quoted by her uncle Sharif Mahmud.
Multiple sources reported that the prime culprit Fardin and his three friends forcibly took her to an empty residence and raped her taking turns. When they realised that her bleeding from the injuries was too severe, they took her to the hospital. However, the hospital authorities instantly alerted the police of unnatural death because she had been brought in dead.
Sajjadur Rahman, deputy police commissioner of Ramna Division of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), said, “We’ve recovered the girl’s body from Anwer Khan Modern Medical Hospital at Dhanmondi. The doctors at the hospital pronounced her dead after she was taken there. Fardin Dihan is who took her to the hospital and we have detained him. Later, his three friends have also been detained. We’re further investigating the matter.”
The DC said, “We would be able to confirm how the girl died only after receiving the postmortem report.” Though initially Dihan tried to assert how he had been in a romantic relationship with the victim and that their intercourse was consensual, there is little to no doubt regarding how consensual physical relations do not cause the kind of massive bleeding from vaginal wall tear and laceration reported on the victim. Establishing sexual relations with a minor is statutory rape since they do not have authority to consent and Aurna is under 18 years of age. The injuries on her abdomen showing sign of force that was claimed by her mother conflicts Dihan’s statement as well therefore, it is safe to conclude the relationship status of the victim with Dihan is irrelevant here. The body of the victim has been sent to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital for autopsy to confirm the hypothesis.
An official case has been registered under Kalabagan Police Station by the victim’s family. Kalabagan police arrested four rapists immediately after the incident, taking them in the custody. Later, Iftekhar Fardin Dihan submitted confessional statement to police about his active participation in her gang-rape and murder.
What has taken the nation by utter shock and deafening terror is that all of the accused in the case had “educated backgrounds” from families privileged enough to have brought them up in an environment they had access to all resources to learn and understand the nuances of sexual violence, and receive comprehensive education on consent, friendship, interpersonal relationships and reproductive health. They were not from a place where the burden could be placed on our state’s inability to provide for them. They were sent to one of the best English Medium schools in the country and grew up normalising female friendships, and they were also seen protesting against rape themselves during the anti-rape movement. The nation today is looking at four educated adult males who made a conscious decision to manipulate, gang-rape and murder their underaged female classmate because they felt entitled enough over her body and life- they were convinced our victim-blaming society will find ways to pit the blame on her. Rape culture is maiming our youth. We’re trying to save our girls from rape instead of stopping rape.
A girl only wanted to study with her friends, why must she end up at the morgue in broad daylight with mutilated organs. Was that too much to ask?