Female Journalist Gang Raped & hacked to Death in Bangladesh

A female journalist of a private television channel was gang raped in front of her 9 year old daughter by a dozen men then hacked to death at her home in Radhanagar area of Pabna district in Bangladesh. Subarna Akter Nodi, 32, was the Pabna correspondent of Ananda TV. She was also working as a reporter for the Daily Jagroto Bangla newspaper.

Suborna, who is survived by her nine-year-old only daughter, was awaiting divorce from her husband, the report said.

The witnesses said the number of assailants were around 10 to 12 and were riding on motorcycles, according to Pabna Reporters Unity General Secretary Kazi Babla.

When she answered the door, the 12 men barged in took turns in raping her (both vaginally & anally) and then indiscriminately hacked her right in front of her daughter then fled the spot.

Though the official Pabna police report does not state the gang rape of the journalist. The police report does confirm that the assailants used a sharp-edged weapon to attack and kill her. Local news media are heavily censored and monitored in Bangladesh. The local dailies were not allowed to publish the news of her gang rape before her murder.

Some local witness who rushed her bloodied dead body to the local hospital stated that she was completely naked and bleeding from her genitals when they found her. She was declared dead on arrival by the doctors at the hospital.

Journalists in Pabna have condemned the killing and demanded that the murderers be immediately brought to justice.

Journalism, a once highly respected profession in Bangladesh, has become an increasingly dangerous practice. Statistics compiled by Odhikar, a Dhaka-based non-government organization (NGO), indicate a distressing rise in violence against members of the fourth estate in Bangladesh, showing an especially marked increase in the harassment, torture, and murder of journalists over the past five years.