A special tribunal has sentenced all 16 accused, including sacked madrasa Principal Siraj Ud Doula, to death in the case lodged over murder of Sonagazi madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi, who was set on fire on April 6 this year.
Within seven months of the brutal killing, Feni District Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal Judge Mamunur Rashid handed down the verdict on Thursday morning.
The tribunal also fined all the accused Tk 1 lakh each, and ordered the district magistrate to hand over the amount to victim’s family members, reports our Feni Correspondent.
The condemned convicts are Sonagazi Fazil Madrasa’s sacked Principal Siraj Ud Doula, former Vice-President of the madrasa governing body and Sonagazi upazila Awami League President Ruhul Amin, former member of the governing body and acting General Secretary of Awami League Sonagazi municipality unit Maksudul Alam, madrasa teachers Abdul Kader, and Afsar Uddin, madrasa students Saifur Rahman Mohammad Zubayer, Javed Hossain alias Shakhawat Hossain, Kamrunnahar Moni, Umme Sultana Poppy, Abdur Rahim Sharif, Iftekhar Uddin Rana, Imran Hossain Mamun, Mohiuddin Shakil, Mohammad Shamim, Nur Uddin, and Shahadat Hossain Shamim.
Maksudul Alam is also a Councillor of Sonagazi Municipality.
Kamrunnahar Moni, who was awarded the death penalty in the case, gave birth to a baby girl in prison three months ago.
Following the verdict, all the accused were taken to the prison van escorted by tight security and sent back to the jail.
The court premises were overflowing with family members and relatives of the accused who broke out in chaos as the accused were being transported through the prison van.
The convicts, except for former madrasa principal Siraj, were all seen screaming and shouting and created further chaos from inside the van as they were being driven away from the court premises.
After the verdict, Defence lawyer Giasuddin Nannu said all the 16 convicts will file appeals within seven days while Nusrat’s brother Mahmudul Hasan Noman expressed satisfaction and demanded immediate execution of the judgement.
Nusrat, an Alim examinee of Sonagazi Senior Fazil
Madrasa, was sexually harassed by madrasa Principal (now sacked) Siraj Ud Doula on March 27. After the incident, her mother filed a case against Siraj, who was later arrested and sent to jail.
Since the arrest, the principal’s associates were threatening Nusrat’s family to withdraw the case.
But the family did not do so.
On April 6, 18-year old Nusrat was set on fire when she went to the madrasa to sit for an exam in the madrasa building. Around 80 per cent of her body was burnt. After fighting for her life for five days, Nusrat succumbed to her burn injuries at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital on April 10, which triggered a huge public outcry across the country.
On May 29, the Police Bureau of Investigation pressed charges against 16 accused. Of them, 12 gave confessional statements before the court, according to the prosecution.
Trial of the case began on June 27. The court recorded statements of 87 witnesses. On September 30, the tribunal fixed October 24 (Thursday) for delivering the judgement in the case.
Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) on June 29 filed charge sheet against 16. The court examined 87 witnesses on different occasions from June 27 to September 30.
Nusrat had accused Siraj Ud Doula of harassing her sexually on March 27 while she was exposed to his extreme vengeance on April 6 when she went to the madrasa to appear in Alim examination.
A group of masked youths, later found to be the cronies of the disgraced principal, took Nusrat to the rooftop of the madrasa building and set her on fire after tying her with her scarf.
In addition of horrified murder, before her death on April 10, Nusrat said she had gone to the madrasa to sit in the Alim exams, equivalent to HSC, on April 6.
She rushed to the roof on hearing that Nishat, one of her friends who was a witness to a case on sexual harassment charges against the principal, was being beaten there.
Four burqa-clad people, who had their faces covered by niqab and hands with gloves, poured kerosene on her and set her on fire when she refused to withdraw the sexual charges against Siraj.
Earlier, citing confessional statements of other suspects, police said Nur Uddin met Siraj in jail on April 4 and plotted the arson attack with the others the following day.
Shamim, a senior student of the madrasa, got involved in the attack because Nusrat had earlier refused his proposal for a relationship, police said.
Besides Shamim, Nusrat’s classmates Zubair, Moni, Poppy and Jabed directly took part in the arson attack on the rooftop, according to the law enforcers.
Poppy, a niece of Siraj, called and followed Nusrat to the rooftop, Moni pinned the victim down to the rooftop by her neck while Jabed doused her with kerosene and set her alight with a matchstick, police said citing their statements.
Moni, a relative of Shamim, also admitted to buying the burqas and handing those over to him, according to police.
Shamim had worked for local ward councillor Maksud Alam, who according to the charges, knew about the incident and funded the burqas and kerosene.
