A court in Cumilla has sentenced a man to death in a case filed over the rape and murder of a third-grade schoolgirl. Md Yasin Arafat, judge of the Cumilla Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-1, delivered the verdict at midday on Thursday, July 23.
The convicted man, Mofizul Islam Mofu, is the son of the late Abdul Khalek of Khilpara village in Sadar Dakshin upazila of the district.
According to the charge and court sources, a third-grade pupil in Cumilla’s Sadar Dakshin upazila went missing on April 29, 2024, while returning home after school. When she did not return at the expected time, family members began searching in various places. Her body was later found in a paddy field in the area. Police recovered her school bag, school uniform and shoes from the scene.
Police said the child was raped and then strangled. Several local witnesses saw Mofizul Islam Mofu leaving the scene quickly at the time of the incident. The next day the child’s mother filed a case at Sadar Dakshin police station naming Mofizul Islam Mofu, a resident of the Khilpara area of Sadar Dakshin upazila, as the sole accused. The accused went into hiding after the incident, and RAB arrested him in a raid in Chandpur three days later.
The case’s investigating officer, SI Md Imam Uddin, said the accused admitted raping and killing the child in a statement to the court under section 164 after his arrest. A DNA report also produced evidence that the accused had raped the child, he said, and these points were included in the charge sheet.
After the verdict, Badiul Alam Sujon, public prosecutor of the Women and Children Repression Tribunal-1, said the court completed the trial in 19 working days after proceedings began and delivered the death sentence. Such a verdict in the shortest possible time will remain an important example in establishing justice in society, he said. After the verdict the court sent the convicted man to Cumilla jail.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report