Noakhali gang rape: 10 sentenced to death, 6 life-term

Ten people have been sentenced to death and six others handed life term imprisonment on charges of gang rape at Subarnachar in Noakhali on the night of 11th parliamentary election five years ago.

They have been fined Tk 50,000 each and in case of default, they have to serve two more years in jail.

Noakhali Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-2 judge Fatema Ferdous passed the verdict at around 12:00pm on Sunday.

The persons handed down death sentence are Md Ruhul Amin, Md Hasan Ali, Md Sohel, Swapan, Ibrahim Khalil, Abul Hossain, Md Salauddin, Md Jasim Uddin, Md Murad and Md Jamal.

Life sentence convicts are Md Hanif, Md Chowdhury, Md Basha Alam, Mosharraf and Md Mintu.

The fifteen accused persons were brought to the court from Noakhali district jail at around 10:00am amid tight security. Security was beefed up in the court premises centering the announcement of the verdict.

On the night of 11th national election on 30 December in 2018, miscreants tied the husband and children of a 40-year old woman and raped her. The victim, a mother of four, alleged that she was raped for not casting vote in favour of the candidate of choice of the attackers.

Husband of the woman filed a case with Charjabbar police station under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act. The Detective Branch of police later submitted a charge sheet against 16 persons including Subarnachar upazila Awami League’s expelled publicity affairs secretary Ruhul Amin on 27 March in 2019.

Lawyer Saleh Ahmed, who represented the state, told Prothom Alo that the state presented 23 as witnesses in the case. A total of 16 accused persons were convicted. Of them 15 are behind bars while Md Mintu alias Helal, 28, has been at large since the incident.