Former VC of Khulna Agricultural University jailed in rape case
Former vice-chancellor (VC) of Khulna Agricultural University Shahidur Rahman Khan was landed in jail in a rape case.
Judge Abdus Salam of Khulna Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal passed the order on Monday.
Confirming the development, the court's Special Public Prosecutor Farid Ahmed said the judge sent Shahidur Rahman to jail rejecting his appeal for bail.
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However, the university's current registrar Khandkar Mazharul Anwar was granted permanent bail in the same case on Sunday.
Earlier, on 13 March, a female employee of the university filed a complaint against the former vice-chancellor and the registrar of Khulna Agricultuar University in the Khulna Women and Child Abuse Prevention Tribunal-3.
She accused the former VC of rape and the registrar as an accomplice to the incident.
According to the case statement, Shahidur Rahman, with the help of his accomplice, violated the woman who used to work as his personal assistant.
After the incident, Shahidur Rahman threatened to fire her from her job if she told anyone what happened.
The registrar hoaxed the woman into believing she would be married off to the VC and convinced her to divorce her husband.
The woman complied with them in fear of losing her job and to save herself from social embarrassment, the case statement reads.
From then until 30 November 2022, Shahidur Rahman kept on interacting with the woman as husband and wife at various times. At one point, when his tenure as vice-chancellor was over on 10 September last year, he was transferred and he stopped communicating with the woman without explanation.
During his visit to Khulna on 7 February, the woman approached Shahidur Rahman and requested him to marry her. But he rejected her.
The woman later filed a complaint with Khulna Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal.
According to university sources, the woman was previously working as a storekeeper of the university. Later, she was appointed as personal assistant to the VC.
