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A court in Faridpur has sentenced eight men to life imprisonment for confining and gang-raping a young woman in a kash flower field in Paldangi Char of Faridpur Sadar upazila in 2019 and recording the assault on a mobile phone.
Judge Shamima Parvin of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal, also a district and sessions judge, delivered the verdict on Monday, November 9.
The court convicted the eight under Section 9(3) of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, 2000, as amended in 2003. Each convict was also fined Tk2 lakh.
The convicts are Md Shaheen Sheikh, 27, Joy Sheikh, 30, Rahim Molla, 29, Monir Sheikh, 31, Hridoy Kha, 26, Ilias Shikdar, 33, Mostak Sheikh, 32, and Riaz Shikdar. All are residents of the Faridpur Kotwali Police Station area.
According to the case statement, the incident took place between 2pm and 2:30pm on December 25, 2019, when the accused forcibly confined the woman in a kash flower field in Paldangi Char, near Dhalar Mor, and gang-raped her.
They also recorded a 23-second video of the assault on a mobile phone before fleeing the scene.
Police launched an investigation after the District Detective Branch (DB) obtained the video footage. On August 6, 2020, a special operation led to the arrest of prime accused Shaheen Sheikh.
DB Sub-Inspector Farhad Hossain subsequently filed a case with Faridpur Kotwali Police Station. Following Shaheen’s disclosures and confession, police identified the other suspects and submitted a charge sheet after completing the investigation.
The court delivered the verdict after examining witness testimonies and other evidence during the lengthy trial. All eight convicts were present in court and were later taken to jail under police escort.
State counsel Advocate Golam Rabbani Bhuiyan Ratan welcomed the verdict, saying it had delivered justice to the victim’s family and society.
He expressed hope that exemplary punishment for the perpetrators would help deter similar crimes and improve women’s safety in the char areas.