DHAKA, 26 September 2005 — A major Bangladeshi town was hit hard by a daylong strike yesterday to protest against the rape and killing of a schoolgirl, sources said.
All educational institutions, businesses and banks were closed in Rajshahi, 230 km northwest of the capital, Dhaka, yesterday as residents enforced the strike to protest against the rape and killing of 11-year-old Mafruza Akhter.
Mafruza was raped and then strangled in May at her residence in Rajshahi, the victim’s family said. No one has been convicted over the attack and a police report recently cleared three suspects arrested over the attack.
Yesterday, residents rallied in the city and demanded a “proper investigation.”
They marched through the streets, chanting “Justice, Justice,” Mohammed Zulfiqer, a local journalist, said.
There were no immediate reports of violence, said a police official.
Mafruza’s family and residents alleged that police were doing little to bring the culprits to justice because of what they called “pressure exerted by some local influential people.”
A police official denied the allegation.
Mafruza’s father Mansur Rahman recently rejected a police intelligence report that said three men arrested over the rape and killing were not guilty.
He demanded a fresh investigation.
Some residents suspect the killers are linked to the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party, according to Khairul Alam, a lawyer and one of the main organizers of the protest.
In June a ruling party statement denied the allegations that it was protecting the alleged killers, reports said.
The statement also demanded punishment for the killers.
“Police are not working independently, they are influenced,” Kolpona Roy, a human rights activist, told a Rajshahi rally yesterday.
“We will continue our protest until we get justice”.
