Tahirpur (Sunamganj) Correspondent

A mentally unbalanced woman was allegedly abducted from a roadside and violated by a local man in the Tilar jungle in Tahirpur upazila of Sunamganj. Police have arrested the accused in connection with the incident.

In the early hours of Thursday, a team from the Tahirpur police arrested the accused, Saidur, son of the late Abdur Rashid of Barektila under North Bardal union of Tahirpur, for his involvement in the heinous crime.

Sunamganj Superintendent of Police (SP) ABM Zakir Hossain PPM stated that acting swiftly on the complaint, a vigilant team from the Badaghat Police Investigation Center under Tahirpur Police Station successfully apprehended the accused. Since the victim has no legal guardians, a sub-inspector (SI) of police filed a case on Thursday against Saidur under the relevant sections of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, the SP added.

On Thursday, police escorted the survivor to the One-Stop Crisis Centre (OCC) at the Sunamganj District Sadar Hospital for necessary medical examination and treatment.

According to the case statement and eyewitnesses, on Wednesday afternoon, Saidur grabbed the 45-year-old mentally unbalanced woman by the hand and forcefully dragged her away from the Barektila-Takherghat border road. He then confined her inside a dense jungle atop the hill and violated her. Passersby traveling along the road heard cries and rushed to the spot, catching Saidur red-handed in the act. However, the accused managed to flee the jungle by threatening them with a sharp knife.

Local UP Member of North Bardal Union Kofil Uddin and Mahibur, a youth from the Maharam border area, stated that the victim had been living under the shelter of local residents across all strata of society for over a decade. However, the violation of the woman by Saidur—identified by locals as a top inter-district cross-border drug smuggler—has sparked widespread outrage across the region. They added that for the past several years, Saidur has been heavily involved in peddling foreign liquor, beer, yaba, and ganja to tourists and houseboats around Barektila, Bargop Tila, Jadukata River, and Shimul Bagan. He has also been implicated in various border crimes, including human trafficking and selling a Garo teenage girl to a broker syndicate.

Tahirpur Police Station OC Faruk Ahmed confirmed that another case filed by police against the arrested accused is currently pending trial in court.