A tribunal has sentenced three men to death in a case involving the kidnapping and murder of 8-year-old Mahfuz at Kashiani thana in Gopalganj 15 years ago.
Judge Farzana Yasmin of Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal-4 announced the verdict on Tuesday (July 7) afternoon.
Those sentenced to death are Jamal Sheikh, Shamim Sheikh and Ranju Sheikh, under Sections 302/34 of the Penal Code. Under the same sections, the tribunal also sentenced Mahmuda Khanam Usha to life imprisonment.
The tribunal also sentenced defendants Billal Sheikh, Jamal Sheikh, Ranju Sheikh, Shamim Sheikh and Mahmuda Khanam Usha to life imprisonment under Section 7/30 of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act for the kidnapping of Mahfuz, along with a fine of Tk 50,000 each.
State prosecutor Gias Uddin confirmed the matter to BSS.
According to the case, on the evening of July 5, 2012, the accused kidnapped 8-year-old Mahfuz while he was on his way from his home in Barashur village, Kashiani upazila, Gopalganj, to Bhatiapara Railway Jama Mosque. They then demanded ransom. When the demanded money was not paid, they held him captive for about a month and a half before strangling him to death at Mahmuda Khanam Usha’s house on the night of August 20, 2012, in a premeditated act. The body was later dumped in a mahogany grove near the victim’s family home.
Mahfuz’s mother, Swapna Begum, filed a case at Kashiani police station on July 6, 2012. The investigating officer, Sub-Inspector Md. Nizam Sikder, filed a charge sheet against the accused in court on November 20 of that year. Given the case’s significance, it was transferred to Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal-4 on December 22, 2013, by decision of the home ministry’s law branch.
The trial began with the framing of charges against the accused on February 13, 2014. During the trial, 23 of 25 prosecution witnesses testified.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report