More than a month after securing bail, a woman has continued to allege that she was assaulted, subjected to sexually inappropriate remarks and falsely implicated by police after she went to Rampura Police Station to file a theft complaint against her landlord.
Sonia Akter Keya claims officers demanded a bribe to register her case, assaulted her inside the police station and later arrested her in a case filed by police. She has repeated the allegations in interviews with journalists and television media since her release. Police have denied all the allegations, describing them as fabricated.
According to Sonia, a tenant of Mamataz Villa at 248/6/1 Purba Rampura, she left the keys to her flat with her landlord, Alamgir, before travelling to her village ahead of Eid-ul-Adha. When she returned, she found that gold jewellery, cash and a cheque book had gone missing from her apartment.
She said she first went to Rampura Police Station on 5 June to file a complaint, but police refused to accept it. Following the intervention of Khilgaon Zone Assistant Commissioner of Police Toufiq Ahmed, a written complaint was later received, although it was not registered as a formal case, she alleged.
Sonia said she returned to the police station on the night of 8 June to inquire about the matter. She alleged that Officer-in-Charge Md Jahangir Hossain demanded Tk200,000 to proceed with the case. When she refused, the OC allegedly made sexually inappropriate remarks and propositions. After she protested, he and several other police personnel assaulted her, she claimed.
She further alleged that officers seized and smashed her mobile phone when she attempted to go live on Facebook during the incident.
A video of the incident later circulated on social media. In the footage, a police officer is heard telling Sonia, who was standing in front of the OC’s vehicle, “Please go inside. Your case will be taken.”
Police, however, maintain that her complaint had already been recorded as a First Information Report (FIR) before the incident.
According to Sonia, she was later taken to the station’s women support desk, where she was assaulted again. Around midnight, she was transferred to Khilgaon Police Station, where a case was filed against her on charges of obstructing public officials in the discharge of their duties and assaulting a police officer.
She said she later fell ill and was taken to Mugda Medical College Hospital before being produced before a court and sent to Kashimpur Women’s Central Jail. Due to deteriorating health, she received treatment at the prison hospital for two days before being released on bail seven days later.
The police case alleges that Sonia assaulted female constable Arifa Sultana, who subsequently received treatment at Mugda Medical College Hospital.
However, the emergency department register of the hospital for 8 and 9 June contains no record of any patient by that name. In contrast, hospital records show that Sonia received treatment there.
A physician who was on duty in the emergency department at the time told TIMES of Bangladesh that Sonia had visible injury marks on different parts of her body.
Contacted by TIMES, Rampura Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Jahangir Hossain rejected the allegations. He claimed Sonia deliberately brought false accusations against him and alleged that she created a disturbance inside the police station and assaulted a female police officer.
The OC claimed CCTV footage supports the police’s version of events but declined to make the footage available.
After being released on bail, Sonia submitted a written complaint to Police Headquarters seeking action against the officers concerned.
Additional Inspector General of Police Khandaker Rafiqul Islam said the complaint would be investigated impartially and that appropriate legal action would be taken if the allegations against the police were found to be true.
