Two young men have been sentenced to life imprisonment and fined for abducting and raping a 15-year-old madrasa student inside a moving microbus in Faridpur’s Bhanga upazila.
The verdict was delivered at around 1.30pm on Monday (5 October) by Shamima Parveen, judge of the Faridpur Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal and District and Sessions Judge.
The convicted men are Mohan Biswas, 26, and Tayeb Matubbar, 27, residents of Hoglakandi neighbourhood in Bhanga municipality. Neither was present in court when the verdict was announced. Following the ruling, the court issued arrest warrants against both men.
According to court sources, the accused were convicted under two separate provisions of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act. For rape, each was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour and fined Tk200,000. In default of payment, each will have to serve an additional three years in prison without hard labour.
The court also imposed a separate life sentence with hard labour on each man for abduction, along with a fine of Tk20,000. Failure to pay the fine will result in an additional one-year prison term without hard labour for each convict.
However, the court directed that the sentences awarded under the two offences may be served concurrently. This means the two men will not have to serve the life sentences consecutively.
Public Prosecutor Golam Rabbani Bhuiyan confirmed the verdict and said the court had ordered the sentences to run at the same time.
The case dates back to 8 August 2020. According to the first information report, the 15-year-old girl was near her home in a village in Bhanga upazila at around 4pm when Mohan and Tayeb allegedly forced her into a black-glass microbus after covering her mouth with a cloth.
The vehicle then travelled along the highway through Bhanga Golchattar and the Munsurabad area. The prosecution case states that the girl was raped inside the moving vehicle, first by Mohan and later by Tayeb.
The two men allegedly dropped her near her home in the evening before leaving. After returning home, the girl told her family members about what had happened.
Her father filed a case at Bhanga Police Station the following day, 9 August, accusing Mohan and Tayeb under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act.
Bhanga Police Station’s then inspector (investigation) Bikash Mondal was assigned to investigate the case. After completing the investigation, he submitted a charge sheet against the two accused to the court on 3 January 2021.
After examining the evidence and proceedings in the case, the tribunal found the two accused guilty of rape and abduction and handed down the life sentences and financial penalties on Monday. The arrest warrants issued after the verdict remain in effect as the convicts were absent from court when the judgment was delivered.
