'Minority women' gang raped in Bangladesh in 2001-02

DHAKA: A judicial commission has concluded that over 200 Hindu women were raped following the 2001 parliamentary election, forcing many terrorized families to flee the country.

The acts were allegedly committed by cadres of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami who won the 2001 polls, the report said, citing the involvement of many top leaders and lawmakers of the alliance that is now in the opposition.

While the commission referred to the victims as "minority women", media reports of that period had identified them as Hindus.

With Begum Khaleda Zia as the prime minister, the BNP-Jamaat alliance ruled Bangladesh during 2001-06.

The violence went on for 15 months and "the barbarous act was intended to force them to leave the country. They were, in the eyes of the culprits, enemies as they voted for the Awami League", The Daily Star said on Tuesday, quoting commission sources.

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