Rape incidents have increased alarmingly in the city in recent times while the law enforcing agencies have failed to take any significant action in arresting the culprits.
Human rights activists have expressed concern over the rise of such incidents in the capital.
At least 10 rape victims were admitted to the One-stop Crisis Centre (OCC) at Dhaka Medical College Hospital over the last 17 days, said sources at the OCC.
A 17-year-old girl was kidnapped and raped inside a private car on Thursday in Uttara, only two days after a 19-year-old girl from Mirpur was gang-raped inside a microbus by three people.
On June 20, barely 12 days before the Mirpur girl incident, two minor working girls were raped by a bus driver and his three associates in Kamalapur.
Bilkis Begum, coordinator at the OCC, said the number of rape incidents was higher than those of the past, considering the span of such a short time.
Although all the victims and their families sought police help, few of the accused have been arrested till date, she added.
During the Uttara incident, a security guard was killed as he tried to save the college girl from the hands of kidnappers.
The girl, who was released nearly six hours later, said she was raped by one of the kidnappers, whom she could not recognise, in a private car used for kidnapping.
Police arrested one person in connection with the incident but the girl's mother said the main culprits, who used to stalk her daughter, were still at large.
Yesterday, she gave judicial statements before a Dhaka court describing the incident.
Shahadat Hossain Khan, officer-in-charge of Uttara Purbo Police
Station, said they were trying to arrest the other suspects.
The Mirpur girl, a garment worker, said she recognised the main culprit, Farid, a local thug who used to stalk her on her way home and factory. However, police are yet to find him although six days have elapsed since the incident.
On June 20, two working girls, aged 13 and 14, were fooled and trapped by the driver and the helper of a bus they were travelling in and gang-raped in Kamalapur.
On information, police arrested two of the culprits, driver Ahmed Sheikh and helper Hasnain, while two others managed to escape. They all were staff of Labbaik Paribahan and used the transport company's office for this vile purpose.
Mostafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge (investigation) of Mugda Police Station, said their efforts were on to arrest the two.
Advocate Nina Goswami, senior deputy director of Ain O Salish
Kendra (ASK), expressed her concern about the frequency of rape incidents taking place of late.
■ It is very difficult to conclude why such incidents of a similar nature are taking place, and whether one is encouraging the other to happen," she said, citing the incidents of gang rapes in Mirpur and Kamalapur.
Referring to the life-imprisonment verdict given this year in the much-talked about Manikganj rape incident inside a bus in 2013, she said the media should highlight such news in order to inform people that they could not get away with such crimes.
Prof Zia Rahman, chairman of criminology department at Dhaka University, said in Bangladesh certain types of crime tend to arise suddenly.
“Sometimes the perpetrators may feel encouraged by the recurrence of rape incidents," he said, adding that an independent criminal justice body is needed to prevent such crimes.