A Jhenidah court pronounced the death sentence for the prime suspect in a child rape-murder case on Monday, the fourth working day for the trial proceedings.
The swift justice delivery is the latest in a series of sentences against child rape and murder suspects in line with the BNP government’s measures to address public concerns over the country’s slow judicial system.
On Monday morning, the Jhenidah Child Repression Prevention Tribunal’s Judge Md Salehuzzaman announced the death sentence against Abu Taher, 33, for raping and killing a 4.5-year-old girl.
Abu Taher was also ordered to pay Tk5 lakh fine, said Public Prosecutor Akidul Islam.
The court sent him to seven years in prison for attempting to hide the dead body, and ordered him to pay further Tk20,000 fine or stay additional three months in prison in default.
According to the case docket, Abu Taher was a sales agent of a private company and lived as a tenant in Kaliganj upazila, Jhenidah.
The victim child was his neighbor.
On 26 February, he called the child to his house with the promise of giving her chips. As the unsuspecting child, entered the house, Abu Taher locked her from inside and started sexually assaulting her.
When the child tried to scream, Abu Taher tried to gag her with his lungi. He also pushed his lungi against the child’s nose to obstruct her breathing, leading to her death.
Abu Taher put the body in a sack and dumped it at the septic tank of a nearby school, before fleeing the scene.
However, police managed to detain him from a rented house in Kushtia the very night. He later gave confessional statements to the police and the trial court.
On 26 May, the police submitted charge sheet in the case, and on 17 June, the trial started with the framing of charges against Abu Taher.
