A court in Tangail has sentenced a bus driver and two other men to life imprisonment for raping a woman passenger on a moving bus on the Dhaka-Tangail highway. Each was also fined Tk 2 lakh, with a further year of simple imprisonment if they fail to pay.
Judge A N M Elias of the Tangail Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal handed down the sentence on Sunday afternoon (October 25).
The convicts are bus driver Md Altaf, 25, son of Abdur Rob of Nanderai village in Chirirbandar upazila, Dinajpur; driver’s assistant Rabbi, 21, son of Khokon Mia of Shibpur village in Jamalganj upazila, Sunamganj; and bus supervisor Sagar alias Sajib Matabbar, 24, son of Chunnu Matabbar of Chandor Hat Bazar in Nagarkanda upazila, Faridpur.
Advocate Omrao Khan Dipu, the tribunal’s public prosecutor, said the woman boarded a Savar Paribahan bus at Gabtoli in Dhaka at about a quarter to 12 at night (11:45pm) on January 14, heading for Ashulia. The other passengers got off at stops along the way.
The accused then took turns raping her on the moving bus. They also threatened her and took her earrings, Tk 36,000 in cash and her mobile phone.
The next day the bus stopped at the Karatia underpass area in Tangail Sadar upazila, where the woman told highway police on patrol what had happened. The highway police detained the accused along with the bus and handed them over to Tangail Sadar police station. She filed a case at the station the same day.
Victor Banerjee, officer-in-charge (investigation) of Tangail Sadar police station, submitted the charge sheet to the court on April 29 after completing the investigation. After the verdict was announced, the convicts were taken to Tangail jail.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report