Bagerhat rapist gets life term in quickest verdict

Dhaka (Oct 19, 2020): In an unprecedented instance, a Bagerhat court today sentenced a man to life in prison for raping a minor girl within two weeks after the incident took place.

Md Nure Alam judge of Bagerhat Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-2 passed the verdict in swift trial this noon. The court also fined the lone convict Abdul Mannan Tk 20,000.

The convict will have to serve one year more imprisonment if he fails to pay the money within the time fixed by the court in its verdict.

The court framed charges on October 13 after police submitted a charge sheet on October 11.

The judge yesterday heard the arguments of the lawyers from both sides -- the plaintiff and the defendant -- in the case. The court then fixed today for announcing the verdict.

According to the case statement, Abdul Mannan Sardar called a seven-year-old girl to his house on October 3 alluring her with a promise to give biscuits and then raped her.

Later, the girl’s uncle filed a case against Abdul Mannan with Mongla Police Station under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act.

Station sub-inspector of Mongla Police Biswajit Mukherjee, who is also the investigating officer of the case, submitted a charge sheet against Abdul Mannan on October 11.

The court came up with the verdict, when anti-rape protesters have been hitting the streets across the country demanding swift trial and exemplary punishment for the rapists and blaming the culture of impunity for increasing the number of rape and repression on children and women.

In instant reactions, several lawyers on the court premise, expressed their overall satisfactions over the verdict and opined that it is an unprecedented incident in the history of penal court in Bangladesh to complete a trial in such a short time, said the lawyers.

The development comes when protests have spread across Bangladesh demanding swift trials and exemplary punishment for rapists.

In the face of the protest, the government has recently introduced death penalty for rape.