The girl was raped while visiting her elder sister’s house in the city of Magura some time between the night of 5 March and the following morning, according to a case filed by her mother.

The elder sister’s 18-year-old husband, along with his parents and brother, were arrested and placed on remand.

On Thursday night, after hearing news of the child’s death, an angry mob descended on the house where the incident is alleged to have taken place, setting it on fire.

The girl died at about 13:00 local time (07:00 GMT) on Thursday after suffering three cardiac arrests, according to a statement by the government’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) department.

“Although doctors managed to stabilize the condition twice, the heart failed to restart after the third episode,” the statement said.

She had spent six days in a critical condition at the Combined Military Hospital in the capital Dhaka, after being admitted on 8 March.

“I thought my daughter would survive,” her mother said following the girl’s death, according to local media. “If she had made it through, I would never have let her go anywhere alone again.”

The girl’s body was taken back to Magura in an army helicopter, which landed at the local stadium around 18:00 to fierce protests.

Aiyub Ali, officer-in-charge of Magura Sadar Police Station, said that authorities struggled to bring the situation under control, according to local news outlet The Daily Star.

Thousands of people gathered in the public square in Magura for the girl’s namaz-e-janaza, the Islamic funeral prayer, before she was laid to rest at 19:30.

An absentee funeral was also held for the girl at Dhaka University, in the nation’s capital, followed by a protest march and speeches by female students.

Many protesters demanded that the government expedite justice for rape victims and reform laws related to women and children’s safety.

Protesters also called for greater clarity around the legal definitions of what constitutes rape in Bangladesh, which they said were currently ambiguous.

The trial of the rape and murder case is expected to begin within the next seven days, according to legal advisor Asif Nazrul.

“DNA sample collection has been completed, we hope to get the report within the next five days,” Mr Nazrul told a press briefing at the Secretariat on Thursday – adding that statements had already been taken from 12 to 13 people.

“If we can start the trial within seven days, our judges will be able to ensure justice with the utmost speed,” he added.

The rape of minors is punishable by death in Bangladesh, as per a law that was passed in 2020.

The introduction of that law followed a series of high-profile sexual violence cases, including the brutal gang assault on a 37-year-old woman that was filmed and spread on social media.

Less than a week after the rape of the young girl in Magura, media reports emerged of at least three rapes of children of around the same age in different parts of Bangladesh.

In some cases the accused were neighbours of the victim, while others were close relatives.

According to statistics from the Law and Arbitration Center, 3,438 child rape cases have been filed in Bangladesh in the last eight years, and there have been many more rape victims.

At least 539 of them are under the age of six, and 933 are between the ages of seven and twelve.

Research has shown that in most cases, children are sexually abused or raped by people they know.

Kielan Mooney, 30, of Bloomfield Park, Derry, was convicted following a trial at Dublin’s Central Criminal Court last December of the rape of the woman in July 2021.

The judge refused to suspend any portion of Mooney’s sentence after two former partners came forward to contradict testimonials given in his favour at a sentencing hearing.

The victim said Mooney’s actions had taken a serious toll on her mental health and had left her feeling suicidal.

“What happened changed my life, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone,” the victim had said in her impact statement.

She said telling her family she was raped was “one of the most heartbreaking experiences”.

After Mooney’s conviction by a jury in December, mitigating factors were supplied to the court by way of affidavits which were given as character references for Mooney.

They were supplied by relatives and friends, with some saying Mooney was a good father to his five children.

One said “his children miss him dearly”, another described Mooney as “adoring” his children and said he was a “dedicated father”.

On Monday, the court heard that two women – who have four children to Mooney – had also supplied statements to the court stating that their children had no contact with Mooney and had not for quite some time.

One of the mothers said that after the pair had broken up, Mooney did not maintain any contact with them.

After the Covid-19 pandemic, the mother said she reached out to him again but that, after a short time, their child did not want to see Mooney as he was “always letting them down” and contact stopped fully in 2022.

The second woman said her two children had not seen their father in two years.

She said he had “never paid child maintenance” and “was not a great father”.

She also described how he “left one of my children sitting in playschool for 36 minutes cause he forgot to get her, twice in a row”.

“I would never let him near my children now,” she said.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt said that there had been an attempt to “mislead” him and that he did “not take kindly” to such action.

“The thrust of both statements is the same; he has had no meaningful or positive contact with these children over a long period of time,” the judge said.

He added that his duties as a father were “grossly overstated”.

The judge said he would not suspend any portion of the sentence, citing the new information surrounding Mooney’s relationship with his children.

“The evidence is clear” that the victim is “plainly a robust person, and could’ve taken disappointment in the ordinary way without resulting in false allegations”, he added.

“It is quite clear in her demeanour in the aftermath, what happened was radically wrong.”

He added that Mooney had not shown any sign of regret or acknowledgement of the conviction to the court.

The Irish Defence Forces confirmed that Mooney’s pay had been stopped and his commanding officer had initiated proceedings to discharge him from the army.

A spokesperson said the defence forces unequivocally condemned any actions by serving personnel that were contrary to military regulations or that did not “reflect our values”.

Sanjay Roy, a hospital volunteer worker, was found guilty over the attack, which happened in August last year at a hospital in Kolkata city in West Bengal state.

The incident caused shockwaves across the country, leading to widespread protests and concerns over the safety of healthcare workers in India, especially women.

Judge Anirban Das said the sentence, which will be announced on Monday, would range from life in prison to the death penalty. Roy has maintained his innocence and said previously that he was being framed.

The victim’s mother told the AFP news agency that people would lose faith in India’s legal system if Roy was not handed the death penalty.

The body of the 31-year-old doctor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found on 9 August 2024 at at the busy, state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

After a gruelling 36-hour shift, she had gone to sleep in the hospital’s seminar hall. Her half-naked, severely injured, body was later discovered near a podium by a colleague.

The post-mortem examination found the victim had been strangled and had injuries showing she fought back.

According to the charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which the BBC has seen, Roy went to the hospital in a drunken state and found the female doctor sleeping alone.

He was arrested a day after the crime.

The case was initially being investigated by the Kolkata police but later the court handed over the probe to the CBI after state officials were accused of mishandling it.

For weeks after the incident, doctors and medical students across India held protests and rallies demanding justice and better security for doctors.

One such protest, the “Reclaim the Night” march, saw tens of thousands of women walk through the streets at night in Kolkata and other cities on 14 August, the eve of India’s Independence Day.

In December, the victim’s parents petitioned the Calcutta High Court for a fresh investigation, expressing a lack of faith in the CBI’s investigation.

They argued that Roy alone could not have committed the crime and stated they would be satisfied only when all those involved were brought to justice. The high court has said it will consider the plea only if the Supreme Court – which is monitoring the case – directs it to do so.

The incident raised concerns about rising cases of violence against health workers in India – many of whom face physical abuse by angry patients or their relatives.

A 2017 survey by the Indian Medical Association found that over 75% of doctors in India have experienced some form of violence. The survey also revealed that nearly 63% of doctors fear potential violence while treating patients.

Meanwhile, sexual violence against women remains a widespread problem in India. More than 31,000 rapes were reported in India in 2022, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

Many rape cases in India go unreported, mostly due to social stigma around sexual violence and a lack of trust in the police and judicial system. Activists say this often results in the victim being shamed instead of the perpetrator, especially in rural areas.

In 2012, the rape and murder of a medical student by a group of men in India’s capital Delhi drew global attention and triggered similar, wider protests.

The public anger prompted authorities to amend rape laws in 2013. The changes broadened the definition of the crime, set strict punishments for sexual assault and lowered the age at which a person can be tried from 18 to 16.

The lawsuit, which was filed on 6 January in a US District Court in the Eastern District of Missouri, alleges that the abuse started when she was three and Mr Altman was 12.

In a joint statement on X, with his mother and two brothers, Mr Altman denied the allegations, saying “all of these claims are utterly untrue.”

“Caring for a family member who faces mental health challenges is incredibly difficult,” the statement added.

“This situation causes immense pain to our entire family.”In the filing, which has been seen by the BBC, Ms Altman alleged that the abuse, which took place over many years, included rape.

The lawsuit added the last instance of the alleged abuse took place when Mr Altman was an adult but she was still a minor.

The lawsuit requested a jury trial and damages in excess of $75,000 (£60,100).

Ms Altman has previously made similar allegations against her brother on social media platforms such as X.

Mr Altman is one of the technology world’s most high profile figures.In late 2022, OpenAI launched the ChatGPT generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot.