Photo: Collected
A 45-year-old grocery shopkeeper has been accused of attempting to rape a four-and-a-half-year-old child after luring her with the offer of ice cream in Chandina of Cumilla.
The incident took place on Friday (2 October) morning in the Indrarchar area of Ward No 4 of the municipality in Chandina upazila headquarters.
Locals caught the accused grocery shopkeeper, Kamruzzaman Sohel, 45, over the incident and handed him over to police. The accused Sohel is the son of the late Shahjahan Mia of Indrarchar village.
The child’s guardian said, ‘I live in a rented house in the Indrarchar area. I run my family by driving a CNG-run auto-rickshaw. In the morning, when my daughter went to Sohel’s grocery shop adjacent to the Indrarchar vehicle garage, he tried to rape my daughter after luring her with the offer of ice cream. When my daughter went home and cried, we informed the local elders about the matter. But when no one took any step, I called the police emergency number 999 in the evening.’
Several local residents said Sohel had committed such immoral acts with several children before as well. They demanded exemplary punishment for him.
Chandina Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Nuruzzaman said the incident of the attempted rape of the child is true. The accused has been detained and brought to the police station, and preparations are under way to file a case over the incident.
