A court in Sunamganj's Bishwamvarpur upazila on Wednesday ordered Humayun Ahmed, 30, a local mosque imam, to be sent to jail after he was produced by police over allegations that he raped an 11th-grade student.
Senior Judicial Magistrate Mohammad Emdad passed the order after a bail hearing at which no defence lawyer appeared, according to court official ASI Farid Ahmed.
The complaint, filed on 26 July by the student's father with the Sunamganj Women and Children Repression Tribunal, alleges that Ahmed had a relationship with the student, raped her with a promise of marriage, threatened her with a knife and carried out further assaults.
The victim recorded a statement in court under Section 22 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and police arrested Ahmed from Baghber Bazar on Tuesday evening after the tribunal ordered action.
Ahmed's relatives and well-wishers say the case is false and fabricated and have demanded his release.
In a separate case, police in Haziganj, Chandpur, arrested Selim Majumder, 55, a caretaker of an under-construction building, from his home in Makimabad on Thursday morning.
The family of a six-year-old girl filed a complaint on Wednesday alleging that Majumder, whom the child called 'dada', lured her with chocolates and food and sexually assaulted her; relatives found her crying as she came out of the building's ground floor and later admitted her to Haziganj Upazila Health Complex.
Haziganj police station chief Abdul Mannan said the case is being investigated seriously and further legal steps will follow medical reports, evidence and testimony.