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According to accounts from the students, the victim was raped on Sunday after she got off a bus in the northern Cantonment area of the capital.
The alleged rape of a second-year Dhaka University student sparked protests at the university campus on Monday as thousands gathered to demand justice.
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Hundreds of students formed a human chain to block the roads to campus and demanded immediate arrest and trial of the alleged perpetrators.
Akram Hossain, a third-year student, said: “She took a CNG auto-rickshaw to go to a hospital (on her own) after the incident and called her friends, who later took her to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.”
Anika Anju, another protester, said: “Rape is the most heinous of all crimes. The criminals must be arrested and brought to justice. Otherwise, we will continue our protest.”
For Nasir Abdullah, another protester and final year marketing student, a culture of impunity contributes to a rise in such crimes.
“Every day, we see the news of rape in media, but we hardly see the perpetrators face trial. This has created a culture of impunity and, because of this, the crime rose. We want the punishment of all rapists,” he said.
Mohammad Moniruzzaman, the officer in charge of the investigation, told EFE that the incident was reported to the authorities by the victim’s family and they were working to “identify the criminals involved and arrest them as soon as possible.”
Women’s rights organization Mahila Parishad recorded a total of 731 incidents of sexual violence in the first half of 2019 in the country.
The incidents include 592 rapes, 113 gang-rapes, 26 killings after rape as well as 123 victims of attempted raped.
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