THE report that a man over 60, Ahmed Ali, raped a six-year-old baby girl twice is too mind-bogglingly devilish to believe. And then think of some elders posing as arbitrators condemning, not the perpetrator of the outrage, but the victimized child, as being blemished and hence ordering her to leave her village in Nandigram of Bogra, the place of her birth! It's all too shocking and terrible to come to terms with.

But it's all real and has taken place within earshot of the sane, civilised and enlightened members of our society.

What is most horrific about the incident is that the demon in human form, Ahmad Ali along with so-called village arbitrators, is still roaming free, while the local police is looking hard for the proofs of the crime. Shameful and unfortunate though it is, the local police was not forthcoming about assuring that the rapist could be held to justice, if only because the physical evidences of rape are so elusive, especially with the passage of time.

This is totally unacceptable. Why have the police to grope so helplessly for clue of the crime, when the tormented child herself, her parents and the villagers are there to bear witness to the outrage? We believe the victim child's statement about the incident can be considered as enough proof to arrest and prosecute the contemptible culprit.

The law should be unforgiving and harsh for such beasts in the guise of humans walking amidst normal people in society.