Desk Report,
Three sentenced to death in Netrakona rape-suicide case
A court in Netrokona has sentenced three youths to death for raping a teenage girl (15). In addition, they have been sentenced to 10 years in prison and a fine of Tk 1 lakh each in the case of abetment to suicide. Judge AKM Emdadul Haque of the Netrokona Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal announced the verdict at around 3 pm today, Monday.
Three sentenced to death in Netrakona rape-suicide case
State prosecutor (PP) Nurul Kabir confirmed the matter and said that all three accused were present in the court when the verdict was announced. The convicted persons are Apu Chandra Sarkar (20), son of Kajal Sarkar of Thakurakona area of Netrokona Sadar Upazila, Mamun Akand (25), son of Gafur Mia, and Sultan Mia (22), son of the late Chan Mia. Among them, Apu Chandra Sarkar was the former deputy secretary of agriculture of the district Chhatra League.
According to the brief details of the case, on the evening of September 3, 2017, the three youths called the daughter of a poor local rickshaw puller to a nearby fish farm and raped her. That day, around 8 pm, the girl’s mother went there and rescued her. After a while, one of the accused went to the girl’s house and threatened her not to tell anyone about the incident. The next day, when the incident came to light, the girl committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling of her house.
A case of unnatural death was initially filed at the Netrokona Model Police Station. Later, the girl’s mother complained that when she went to file a rape case at the police station, the police did not accept it, but instead verbally abused her and chased her away. Various socio-cultural and political organizations held human chains and protest programs in Netrokona over the incident. The then Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the Model Police Station, Amir Taimur, was withdrawn on charges of negligence of duty. Later, the victim’s mother filed two separate cases as a plaintiff, alleging rape and incitement to suicide.
On the orders of the court, the body was exhumed from the grave and an autopsy was conducted. After that, the police arrested the three accused and they gave confessional statements in the court under Section 164. After the investigation, the charge sheet was submitted to the court on April 5, 2018. The verdict was given today after the testimony of 16 witnesses.
