The main accused in the widely followed case over the attempted rape and killing of a four-year-old girl has again been attacked at the Sylhet court premises.
An angry crowd beat him on Thursday morning, July 23, while he was being produced before the Sylhet Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal. Police baton-charged to disperse the attackers and bring the situation under control.
Witnesses said the accused was brought to court from Sylhet Central Jail in a police prison van around 10 a.m. Relatives and neighbours of the dead child were already present at the court premises. As he was taken from the prison van towards the court building, they attacked in a group and beat him. Police on duty then baton-charged, brought the situation under control and took the accused safely into court.
A similar attack and beating of the accused took place at the court premises on June 23.
An uncle of the child, however, denied involvement in the attack. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said: “We are angry with the state prosecutor. It seems to us that he is speaking for the accused. This makes us anxious about getting justice.”
Repeated attacks on an accused in police custody at the court premises have raised questions about security arrangements.
Mohammad Manjurul Alam, additional deputy commissioner and media officer of the Sylhet Metropolitan Police, said the accused is brought to and from court under adequate police security. How the attack still happened is being looked into, he said.
The four-year-old girl was the daughter of a day labourer in Sonatala village of Kandigaon union in Sylhet Sadar upazila. The accused is from the same village and, police say, related to the child.
The girl went missing from home on May 6, and her body was recovered beside a ditch in the village at dawn on May 8, two days later. Police said the accused had tried to conceal the body after the killing.
After his arrest the accused gave a statement to police and to the court under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Recently, however, while being produced in court, he told journalists present that police had extracted that statement from him by force.
In their preliminary investigation police claimed the child lost consciousness when an attempt was made to rape her, after which she was strangled and the body first hidden inside a house, then taken late at night in an attempt to dump it in a nearby ditch. During the investigation police recovered a sheet and a briefcase used in the killing, on the accused’s indication.
The killing caused a stir in Sylhet and across the country. Locals began protests demanding justice after the incident, and the accused’s home was vandalised twice. The case is currently under trial at the Sylhet Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal.
On the case’s progress: police arrested the child’s neighbour on the night of May 11 on charges of attempted rape and murder, and he has been in Sylhet Central Jail since. Police completed the investigation and submitted a charge sheet to the court just one month and five days after the incident. The charge sheet accuses the main accused of attempted rape and murder, and two of his brothers of helping to conceal the body.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report