The condition of the eight-year-old child from Magura has deteriorated further as she suffered two cardiac arrests this morning.
A member of the Combined Military Hospital's medical board overseeing the child's treatment said this to Prothom Alo.
The victim remains on life support in the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka.
On March 1, the child's mother had filed a case accusing her sister's husband, father-in-law, mother-in-law, and brother-in-law of raping the child while she was visiting their house.
All four accused have been arrested and remanded.
According to Prothom Alo report, the member of the medical board said, "She is now in the most critical stage. Her heart stopped beating around 8:00am but was revived. However, it stopped again a second time and was revived once more. Her brain remains unresponsive, with a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 3."
The GCS is used to assess consciousness levels in patients with brain injuries, with a normal score being 15. A score of 3 indicates a completely unresponsive state.
The doctor further stated that when the child was allegedly strangled during the assault, her brain was deprived of oxygen for a prolonged period. She was left in that state until she was taken to a hospital at 11:00am the next day, leading to severe brain damage.
"Had she been given oxygen immediately, the damage could have been minimised," the doctor added.
On March 6, the child was taken to the Magura 250-bed hospital in an unconscious state. Later that night, she was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), where she was placed on life support the next day. On Saturday evening, she was shifted to CMH for advanced care.
A medical board comprising eight specialists has been formed at CMH for her treatment.
Meanwhile, according to the report by Prothom Alo, DNA samples have been collected from three of the accused for forensic testing. The samples were taken to the CID's DNA profiling lab in Dhaka yesterday, along with a sample from the victim. Magura Additional Superintendent of Police Md Mirazul Islam confirmed that the three accused were taken back to Magura District Jail in the evening.
The incident has sparked nationwide outrage, with protests and demonstrations against sexual violence taking place across the country.
Source: The Daily Star