Ramisa rape and murder: Court indicts Sohel, wife; witness testimonies begin tomorrow
The court framed the charges and asked the accused for their plea, to which both pleaded not guilty.
A Dhaka court has ordered the start of trial proceedings against the main accused and his wife in a case filed over the rape and murder of child 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 today (1 June) after framing charges against Sohel Rana and Swapna Akter. The court also fixed tomorrow for the recording of witness testimony.
When the charges were read out to the accused, Sohel sought the court's attention and said, "My wife did not do anything." At that point, Swapna told Sohel, "Tell them, tell them I did nothing wrong."
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The court, however, proceeded with reading out the charges without taking their remarks into consideration.
After the charges were framed, the court asked the accused whether they pleaded guilty or not guilty. Both pleaded not guilty.
In the morning, the two were brought to court and kept in the court lock-up. Sohel was taken into the courtroom at 10:55am, while Swapna was brought in at 11:07am.
During the proceedings, Swapna fell ill in the courtroom. Female police officers assisted her and splashed water on her face before she recovered.
As there was no defence counsel, the law ministry had appointed Advocate Musa Kalimullah, a member of the Dhaka Bar Association, as the defence lawyer at state expense.
He said he would not apply for their bail for the time being, and neither would he file a written application for charge exemption.
However, he would argue verbally seeking their exemption from the charges, he added.
Earlier, on 24 May, the case's investigating officer, SI Ahiduzzaman of Pallabi Police Station, submitted a charge sheet against Sohel Rana and Swapna Akter.
The charge sheet was later presented before the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ashraful Haque, who took cognisance of it and transferred the case to the Dhaka Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal for trial.
On the same day, Judge Masrur Saleqin accepted the charge sheet and fixed 1 June for the hearing on charge framing.
The law ministry also appointed Advocate Musa Kalimullah as a state-funded defence lawyer to represent the accused.
According to the specific details compiled in the police chargesheet, the tragedy unfolded on the morning of 19 May when Ramisa Akter, a class-two student of Mirpur Popular Model School, left her family's flat.
The chargesheet states that the accused, Swapna Akter, who is the wife of prime accused Sohel Rana, 30, intercepted the child and deceptively lured her inside their neighbouring apartment.
Once the child was inside, the husband, Sohel Rana, confined Ramisa within their bathroom to lay the brutal sexual assault, raping the child before slitting her throat, according to the chargesheet.
The chargesheet further details that around 10:30am, after Ramisa went missing, her mother began searching for her child to send her to school and discovered a shoe of hers placed outside the suspects' door.
Receiving no response to their knocks, the parents and other building residents forced entry into the flat, discovering Ramisa's decapitated body on the bedroom floor and her head concealed inside a large bucket.
Swapna Akter was caught standing at the scene and immediately confessed to the parents and neighbours that her husband had committed the assault and murder inside the bathroom.
Following the discovery, the victim's father, Abdul Hannan Mollah, lodged a formal case with the Pallabi Police Station naming Sohel Rana and his wife, Swapna Akter.
Police arrested Swapna from the crime scene and subsequently tracked down and apprehended Sohel Rana from Fatullah in Narayanganj.
On 20 May, Sohel Rana gave a formal judicial confession acknowledging his direct role in the crime, while Swapna was sent to jail on the same day.
