Rape case filed against reported boyfriend of murdered schoolgirl Tajmin

A rape case has been filed against Riaz Uddin Raju, the alleged boyfriend of schoolgirl Jannatul Tajmin, who was murdered in Cumilla. Raju is currently in jail following his arrest in connection with the killing.

A court directed Cox’s Bazar Sadar Police Station to register the complaint as a case following an application by a lawyer in Cox’s Bazar.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Md Irfanul Haque Chowdhury of the Cox’s Bazar Sadar Magistrate Court issued the order on Thursday.

In his application under Section 9(1) of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, lawyer Mohammad Rashed alleged that Raju had lured Tajmin to Cox’s Bazar and raped her. He also drew the court’s attention to Tajmin’s age.

Rashed said he believed the subsequent events might not have occurred had Raju not brought Tajmin to Cox’s Bazar. He said he filed the case out of a sense of moral responsibility.

Raju was previously detained by police from the Kalatoli area of Cox’s Bazar town. A team from the Cumilla District Detective Branch later travelled to Cox’s Bazar to question him. However, complications arose over transferring him to Cumilla after the questioning.

When Cumilla police declined to take custody of Raju, he was produced before a court under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The judge subsequently ordered that he be sent to jail.