Bogra gang-rape murder of children: 4 youths sentenced to death

Sanju Roy, Bogra: The court sentenced 4 youths to death for the murder of Tabachchum, a 7-year-old child who was gang-raped in Bogra. Judge Noor Mohammad Shahriar Kabir of District Court's Women and Child Torture Prevention Tribunal gave this verdict around 12:30 on Sunday. The defendants were present in the court when the verdict was announced. The convicted persons are Bappi Ahmed, Kamal Pasha Shamim Reza and Lovelu Sheikh. All their homes are in Nasharatpur village of Dhunat upazila of Bogra. According to court sources, on the evening of December 14, 2020, 7-year-old Mahi Umm Tabassum of the same area was gang-raped and left in a bamboo grove in the village. Later, after searching, his body was recovered by his relatives that night. Immediately after this incident, there was a great stir in Bogra. Later on December 25 of that year, the police arrested 4 people involved in the incident. It is known that Tabachchum's parents work in a garment factory in Dhaka. He and his sister lived with their grandmother. On the day of the incident, the village waj mahfil was going on. The ignorant child went there several times to buy sweets. Later in the evening, when he went to buy sweets again, Bappi enticed him to buy almonds and took him to a college room next to the party. The rest of the accused were already staying there. After that they raped the child in turn. Meanwhile, since he was missing for a long time, the family members started looking for Tabachchum, and at one point, he was found in the bamboo grove of the village around 1:30 am. From there, the doctor declared Tabassum dead when he was taken to the hospital. In this incident, the next day his father Belal Hossain Khokon filed a case in the police station in the name of unknown accused. Four accused were arrested on December 25, 2020 in the investigation of that case. Later, on December 26, Bappi, Shamim and Lovelu gave their statement in court. And Kamal Pasha testified on the 29th. Special PP Ashekur Rahman Sujan, lawyer of the state side of the case, said that DNA test was done in this case. It also found the presence of the accused's semen on Tabachchum's body. Apart from the rape, the autopsy also found evidence of strangulation of the child. Later, the police submitted the full charge sheet of the case to the court on November 25, 2021. He said, after all the evidence in the case, the judge announced the verdict on Sunday. In addition to the death penalty, each accused has been fined one lakh taka. After the verdict was announced, Belal Hossain, the father of the slain child, said that his daughter knew all the accused. They were called brothers. Even though they lost her daughter in this judgment of the injustice done to her daughter, justice was established for her murder.