Comilla: Police arrested the alleged rapist of a mentally challenged girl from Brahmanbaria district early Tuesday.

The arrest came several hours after a High Court ordered police to arrest the alleged rapist within 48 hours.

Tipped off, a team of police from Bangara Police Station here arrested Nazrul from Bancharampur upazila around 3am, said police super M Shah Abid Hossain.

He also said no one complained to police soon after the incident took place on December 23, the SP said adding that police recorded a case on January 7 after getting complaint from the victim’s mother.

A three-member probe committee, headed by addition police super Abdul Momen, was also formed to look into the incident, he said.    

The High Court on Monday asked police to arrest the rapist after recording the complaint as the first information report within 48 hours.

An HC bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice JBM Hassan passed the suo moto order following a newspaper report.

The court also asked the Comilla superintendent of police and the officer-in-charge of Bangara Police Station to submit a report on the compliance of the order within January 19.

Mujibur Rahman, a Supreme Court lawyer, placed a report titled ‘Sister raped, brother hacked; arbitration at police station’ published in a national daily on January 7 before the High Court.

Following the report, the HC issued a rule asking the government to explain as to why the arrangement of arbitration at the police station should not be declared illegal.

According to the report, the mentally challenged girl was violated by a young man named Nazrul in Bangra on December 23 last. Although locals caught Nazrul red-handed, they later freed him as he is the son of a local influential person.

As the victim’s brother protested it, he was chopped, leaving him injured.

Later, the victim’s mother lodged a written complaint with the Bangra Police Station on January 1 but the police took an initiative to settle the matter at the arbitration without arresting the culprit.