Police have arrested a mosque imam named Shafiqur Rahman (44) on charges of raping a teenage girl in Chhatke, Sunamganj. He was sent to jail by a court on Monday (March 10) morning.

Accused Shafiqur Rahman is the son of the late Abdul Bari of Banigram in Gowainghat upazila of Sylhet and is the imam of Bangaon Uttarpara Jame Mosque in Chhatke Islampur Union. He is also an assistant teacher of Ittehadul Qurra Bangladesh, which is run by that mosque. It is known that Shafiqur Rahman has been performing the duties of imam and khatib at Bangaon Uttarpara Jame Mosque in Chhatke Islampur Union for a long time. In the current Ramadan, a keerat training center was opened under Ittehadul Qurra in that mosque. He is an assistant teacher at that center.

According to the case statement and local sources, a teenage girl was admitted to the training center of Ittehadul Qurra in the mosque from the first Ramadan. From then on, Shafiqur’s attention fell on the girl. At one point, on March 6, around 1 pm, when the other students had gone home, Shafiqur took the girl to the mosque’s dormitory and raped her. Shafiqur sent her away on the first day, threatening her not to tell anyone about the incident. Later, on March 8, the imam raped her again. This time, the girl told her family about the matter.

After a complaint was filed at the police station, Shafiqur was arrested from the mosque area on Sunday. The girl has been admitted to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital.