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The High Court has acquitted Amir Hossain, who was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a child in Chattogram’s Hathazari, saying he had been arrested and prosecuted instead of the actual culprit.
The full judgment in the case involving child Julia Akter was released on Wednesday (September 23), 21 years after the incident.
A High Court bench acquitted Amir on September 1 after hearing the death reference and his appeal.
According to court records, Julia Akter, a child, had gone to visit her aunt’s home in Mekhe village of Hathazari on May 16, 2005. Amir Hossain was working there as a day labourer at the time.
She was allegedly abducted that day, taken to a secluded place, raped and strangled to death before her body was dumped in a nearby canal. Police later recovered the body from the canal bank.
The victim’s family filed a case naming Amir as the sole accused.
After completing the investigation, police submitted a charge sheet to the court on August 25, 2008. The trial formally began on September 8, 2009, with testimony from 19 witnesses.
After a lengthy trial, the Chattogram Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-2 convicted Amir and sentenced him to death on February 10, 2019.
The case subsequently came before the High Court for hearing of the death reference and Amir’s appeal. After reviewing the evidence and circumstantial facts, the court concluded that Amir had been wrongly arrested and accused in place of the actual culprit.
After 21 years of legal proceedings and imprisonment, Amir has now been finally acquitted of all charges.
