The judicial inquiry team has visited the spot at Sylhet MC College dormitory where the incident of gang rape took place. The four member team reached the dormitory in the afternoon on Thursday. The team visited different halls including the newly constructed building of the dormitory. They collected different information and evidence of the rape incident. Earlier they held meeting with the principal of the institution. Then they went to the dormitory. The inquiry team is headed by Sylhet district and sessions judge Md. Bazlur Rahman. The other members of the team are- metropolitan magistrate Md. Abul Kashem, additional metropolitan sessions judge Mominun Nesa and additional deputy commissioner Sharmin Sultana. The High Court on September 29 ordered to form the inquiry committee to find out the culprits in connection with the crime. The committee was asked to submit report within 15 days. Mentionable, a young woman fell victim of gang rape at the MC College dormitory in the night of September 25. Later police rescued her and admitted at Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital. On the following day victim’s husband filed a case with Shahparan police station mentioning six named and three unnamed accused. So far police have arrested eight persons in this connection. AH  

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has expressed deep concern as the results turned questionable and controversial following allegation of code of conduct violation including applying force and loss of 19 lives. Besides, the organization has demanded for judicial inquiry over the incident of Representation of People Order (RPO) violation throughout the country including Dhaka known through mass media. TIB Executive Director Dr. Iftekharuzzaman upheld this demand in a statement on Monday. He said, we demanded that level playing grounds be created for all stakeholders from the beginning. However, news of attacks, repression and lawsuits intended to harass the candidates and their supporters of a contending alliance as reported by the national and international media is an ominous sign for democracy. Dr. Iftekharuzzaman said, such harassment allegedly continued even the night before and day of elections. The most worrying fact is that people might lose their confidence on the system of democracy. He said, the way the Chief Election Commissioner tried to shrug off the allegations regarding the polling agents of an alliance is embarrassing and the concern has deepened whether the commission could effectively carry out its constitutional duty. He also said, the negative incidents like violation of RPO happened even in the capital in the name of lunch time break in the election. The way it was published in the local and international media in the reports that cannot be said as propaganda. Besides, leaving the spot with box fill up with ballot papers before the voting starts, running short of ballot papers before casting votes of many voters, assaulting candidate in the vote center-TIB thinks that these incidents need immediate investigations.     Iftekharuzzaman said, Ensuring justice through a judicial probe of the allegations will be of immense value for the credibility, self-confidence and public trust of a government that is being formed in the wake of an unprecedented outcome of an unprecedented election. AH    

The United Nation's top human rights official said Friday there's "little evidence" that Israel made an effort to minimalize casualties during protests by Palestinians earlier this week and backed calls for an international inquiry. Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein spoke in Geneva to a special session of the UN Human Rights Council called following a deadly crackdown on protesters in Gaza by Israeli forces. Israeli troops firing into Hamas-ruled Gaza killed nearly 60 Palestinians at mass border protests on Monday. Reports AP. The session will consider a resolution put forward by Pakistan and other Muslim countries that includes a call for the council to dispatch an "independent, international commission of inquiry." "There is little evidence of any attempt to minimize casualties on Monday," said Zeid, a Jordanian prince. Some demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails, used sling-shots, flew burning kites into Israel, and attempted to use wire-cutters on border fences, but "these actions alone do not appear to constitute the imminent threat to life or deadly injury which could justify the use of lethal force," Zeid added. He said that "the stark contrast in casualties on both sides is also suggestive of a wholly disproportionate response." Israel and the United States have repeatedly accused the 47-member council of anti-Israel bias. Israeli ambassador Aviva Raz Schechter said Friday's session and the call for a commission of inquiry "are yet again politically motivated and won't improve the situation on the ground by even one iota." "The unfortunate outcome of Monday's riots can only be attributed to Hamas' cynical exploitation of its own population in a violent campaign against Israel," she said. "It is regrettable that so many member states allow themselves to be misled by the false narrative of so-called peaceful protests." AH