Rafiq Uzzaman
Rafiq Uzzaman
A Dhaka court today (1 June) framed formal charges against the prime accused and his wife, marking the official commencement of the trial in the brutal rape and murder case of second-grader Ramisa Akter in the capital’s Pallabi area.
Judge Masrur Salekin of the Dhaka Metropolitan Tribunal for the Prevention of Violence Against Children passed the order and fixed tomorrow (2 June) to begin recording witness testimonies.
When indicted and asked by the court to enter their pleas, both prime accused Sohel Rana, 30, and his wife, Swapna Akter, pleaded not guilty and claimed absolute innocence.,
Earlier in the morning, the duo was brought from the court lock-up into the courtroom sequentially—Sohel at 10:55 AM and Swapna at 11:07 AM. During the indictment proceedings, Swapna briefly fell ill inside the courtroom but recovered after female police personnel assisted her and splashed water on her face.
As the accused lacked legal representation, the Ministry of Law appointed Advocate Musa Kalimullah, a member of the Dhaka Bar Association, to represent them at the state's expense.
Advocate Kalimullah informed the court that he would not be submitting written applications for charge exemptions or seeking bail for the accused at this stage. However, he noted that he would present verbal arguments seeking their exemption from the charges.
The trial comes on the heels of an exceptionally rapid police investigation. On 24 May—just five days after the crime—the case's investigating officer, SI Ahiduzzaman of Pallabi Police Station, submitted the formal charge sheet against the couple.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ashraful Haque took cognisance of the chargesheet the same day and transferred the case to the Prevention of Violence Against Children Tribunal, where Judge Masrur Saleqin accepted it and slated today's date for the charge-framing hearing.
According to the police charge sheet, the tragedy occurred on the morning of 19 May when eight-year-old Ramisa Akter, a class-two student at Mirpur Popular Model School, left her family's apartment.
The charge sheet states that Swapna Akter intercepted the child and deceptively lured her into their neighboring flat. Once inside, Sohel Rana confined Ramisa to the bathroom, where he sexually assaulted her before slitting her throat.
The victim’s mother began searching for Ramisa around 10:30 AM to send her to school and grew suspicious upon finding one of her daughter's shoes placed right outside the suspects' door. When repeated knocks went unanswered, the parents and neighboring building residents forced their way into the flat.
Inside, they discovered Ramisa’s decapitated body on the bedroom floor, with her head hidden inside a large bucket. Swapna Akter, who was caught standing at the crime scene, immediately confessed to the parents and neighbors that her husband had committed the atrocities inside the bathroom.
Following the horrific discovery, the victim's father, Abdul Hannan Mollah, filed a formal case with the Pallabi Police Station. While Swapna was arrested on the spot, police tracked down and apprehended Sohel Rana from Fatullah in Narayanganj later that day.
On 20 May, Sohel Rana gave a formal judicial confession before a magistrate acknowledging his direct role in the crime, while Swapna was forwarded to jail.
