A court in Barishal has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for killing his father, and fined him Tk 50,000, in default of which he will serve a further six months of rigorous imprisonment. Judge Md Sohel Ahmed of the Barishal Senior District and Sessions Judge’s Court delivered the verdict in the sensational case on Wednesday afternoon (September 30), 16 years after the killing.
The other accused in the case were acquitted as the charges against them were not proved. The convict, Palash Howlader, was on the run when the verdict was delivered, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest. He is the son of the late Ali Akbar Howlader of Paramananda Saha village in Uzirpur upazila, Barishal.
According to the case statement filed by the victim’s other son, Md Shahid Howlader, their mother died long ago and their father was a day labourer. Palash, the middle brother, married Josna Akter of Sakral village and lived with her for about a year, then, against the family’s wishes, married a second time and went to live with his in-laws. When Palash repeatedly tried to bring his second wife home, their father objected, angering Palash. Meanwhile his first wife filed a case against him under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act for failing to provide maintenance, and he was jailed for some time before getting bail.
Palash accused his father of being behind that case and became desperate for revenge for his time in jail, the complainant said. On the evening of May 2, 2010, Palash had a fierce argument with their father. Around midnight that night, Palash and four or five unidentified people called the sleeping father out of the house. At about 6:30am the next day (May 3), neighbour Alamgir Howlader found him in a nearby paddy field with his hands and feet tied with rope, his eyes and mouth bound with a gamchha, and bleeding wounds, and informed the family.
Family members rushed him first to Uzirpur upazila hospital and then, in a critical condition, to Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital in Barishal, where he died.
After a long investigation, Uzirpur Model police station OC Sukumar Roy pressed charges against three people on March 25, 2011, and the judge delivered the verdict on Wednesday after taking testimony from several witnesses.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report