A court in Narail has sentenced Robiul Sikder Robi, 37, to death and fined him Tk 300,000 for the rape and murder of a 5-year-old girl, a relative and neighbor of his in Narail Sadar upazila. He was the sole accused in the case.
Sheikh Chamidul Islam, judge of the Child Violence Suppression Tribunal and District and Sessions Judge, delivered the verdict around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 19. The verdict was delivered in just nine working days, among the fastest such rulings on record. Robiul Sikder Robi appeared despondent on hearing the death sentence. Robi, the son of Atiar Sikder, works as a mason. The victim was a young student in the primary section of a government primary school in the area.
The child’s father and mother, who were present in court to hear the verdict, expressed satisfaction with the death sentence and called for it to be carried out swiftly.
Narail Judge Court’s Additional Public Prosecutor (APP), Advocate Tariquzzaman Litu, said the verdict had been delivered in just nine working days, among the fastest on record. He noted that the case’s investigating officer, Sadar Police Station Inspector Ajay Kumar Kundu, had submitted the charge sheet in just 11 working days, on August 4. He said the death sentence had delivered justice for the plaintiff’s side, and that he expects the verdict to be carried out quickly. No lawyer represented the accused in the case; a lawyer was instead appointed through Legal Aid.
According to case details, the allegation emerged on the afternoon of July 20 that Robiul Sikder, a neighbor and relative of the victim’s family in Narail Sadar upazila’s Auria union, had raped and then strangled the 5-year-old girl to death. Robi fled after the incident but was detained by local residents the following morning, around 9:00 a.m., and handed over to police.
The girl’s father filed a case at the local police station on July 21, naming Robiul Sikder Robi as the accused.
The First Information Report (FIR) describes the accused as a man of bad character, a habitual predator, a child rapist, and a killer. It states Robi had been married twice before, and that both his wives had left him because of his poor character.
On the day of the incident, July 20, the girl’s father brought her home from the local market around 5:30 p.m. After bringing noodles back from the market, the girl’s mother began preparing them to cook for her daughter and called out for her to come eat. Getting no response, the parents began searching the area, and around 6:00 p.m. that evening found the girl’s unconscious body on a bed inside Robi’s tin-shed home. Her genitals were bleeding. She was rushed to Narail District Hospital, where doctors declared her dead.
Robi fled his home after sensing the parents’ presence, before they could enter.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report