Stepfather Mohiuddin Ahmed raped and killed three-year-old infant Tanzina Akhter in Banani of the capital city, according to the forensic report in the case.
Police of the Banani police station recently submitted a charge sheet against Mohiuddin in court. The case is under trial at the Dhaka Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-7.
Investigating officer of the case, sub-inspector (SI) Mahbubul Alam of Banani police station, told Prothom Alo, Mohiuddin killed the infant Tanzina after raping her. Mohiuddin later made up a false story about the child's death. He first had claimed that the child fell down the stairs and died.
According to the police charge sheet, the infant Tanzina was raped and killed on 27 February 2021 at a rented house in Korail Beltala of Banani. Tanzina's mother filed a case with the Banani police station in this regard. The police arrested Tanzina's stepfather Mohiuddin on charges of murdering Tanzina.
Mohiuddin admitted in court that he killed Tanzina, though he evaded admitting rape. However, forensic tests indicate that the child was raped before being killed. Physician of Dhaka Medical College (DMC)'s forensic department Pradip Biswas made this observation in the forensic report.
From the family, police and the case details, it was learnt that seven months before Tanzina was killed, her parents got divorced. Tanzina's mother is from Habiganj. In addition to Tanzina, she also has two sons from her first marriage.
After her divorce, Tanzina's mother got acquainted with Mohiuddin, a resident of Brahmanbaria, over the mobile phone. Later they got married.
Tanzina's mother came to Dhaka along with Tanzina after the marriage and they began living in a rented house with Mohiuddin in Korail Beltala or Banani.
Tanzina's mother works for a garments factory. Her husband Mohiuddin worked in a hotel, but would not work properly. He would not pay for family expenses properly either. They would often fight over this.
On the morning of the incident, the couple had an altercation. After the fight, the wife walked out of the house to go to a relation's house in Madaripur, leaving her daughter Tanzina at home in Dhaka. At around 11:00am, Mohiuddin's wife called him to ask about Tanzina. Mohiuddin told her that Tanzina had fallen down the stairs and was unconscious. Tanzina's mother rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where she found her daughter's dead body.
Police seized Tanzina's blood stained dress, pants, the bed sheet and a white quilt as evidence. Mohiuddin was arrested in the case. He admitted in court to killing Tanzina.
In his deposition, Mohiuddin said Tanzina had been eating rice and curry and her curry-covered hand touched her female organ. When he washed her, Tanzina started shouting and he pushed his finger into her organ and she started bleeding. Though Mohiuddin made this claim, the forensic report found evidence of rape. The forensic report stated that infant Tanzina was raped and then killed.
First investigating officer of the case, Banani police station's sub-inspector (SI) Delwar Hossain, speaking to Prothom Alo, said Mohiuddin had admitted to killing Tanzina, but evaded the issue of rape. However, the forensic report stated there was evidence that the child had been raped.