Six years ago, the court sentenced a young man named Jewel to life imprisonment for raping a 10-year-old student in Mohakhali area of the capital. At the same time, the accused was ordered to pay a fine of Tk 20,000, in default of payment, another three months imprisonment. Judge Sabera Sultana Khanom of Dhaka’s Number Seven Women and Child Torture Prevention Tribunal announced the verdict today on Wednesday.
Convicted Jewel is a resident of Kalinagar village of Nalitabari police station in Sherpur. Since the case, he has been arrested and is in jail. He was produced in the court during the pronouncement of the verdict today. Later he was taken back to jail with a warrant.
According to the case, the victim lived in the area adjacent to the seven-storey IPH Jame Masjid in Mohakhali with his family. On November 13, 2018, his parents left for work in the morning like every day. That day at around 9:30 a.m. when the student was locking the door of the house to go to school, Jewel, the tenant of the house next door, called her and took her to the room. At this time Jewel wants to pay 10 taka to the victim. But when the student did not want to take the money, Jewel raped her.
In this incident, the victim’s father filed a case at Banani police station the next day. On May 12, 2019, Deputy Inspector (SI) Banani Police Station Sadia Sharmin filed a charge sheet against Jewel after investigating the case. On September 17 of that year, the court started the trial by charging Jewell. During the trial of the case, the court accepted the testimony of 7 out of 13 witnesses.