Sitakunda 7-year-old child's murder: Court to deliver verdict on 7 July

A Chattogram court has fixed Tuesday (7 July) for delivering its verdict in the murder case of seven-year-old Ira, who died after her throat was slit in Sitakunda.

The Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-4 today (5 July) set the date after completing witness testimonies, recording the accused's statement and hearing final arguments.

According to court sources, the trial took 10 working days from the framing of charges to the conclusion of arguments after the case was transferred to the tribunal.

Bench Assistant Abbas Hossain said the case was placed before the tribunal on 16 June. 

The following day, the court accepted the police charge sheet and took cognisance of the charges. 

On 18 June, it framed charges against the sole accused, Babu Sheikh, and ordered the trial to begin.

Over the next six working days, the tribunal recorded the testimonies of 16 witnesses, including the investigating officer. 

The accused's statement under Section 342 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was recorded on 29 June. 

He later presented defence evidence, while final arguments from both sides concluded on 2 July, after which the court today fixed the date for the verdict.

During his statement, Babu Sheikh claimed he was innocent. In his defence, however, he said he was not in a normal mental state at the time of the incident and could not understand how it had happened.

The investigating officer, Sub-Inspector Md Kamruzzaman of Sitakunda Police Station, submitted the charge sheet on 11 June under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act and the Penal Code provisions relating to murder.

According to the case documents, the child was lured with candy to the Chandranath hill area on 1 March, where the accused allegedly attempted to rape her. 

When she screamed, he allegedly slit her throat with a sharp weapon and left her in a ravine, believing she was dead.

The child later climbed up the hillside to a nearby road, where workers rescued her. 

She was first taken to Sitakunda Upazila Health Complex before being transferred to Chattogram Medical College Hospital, where she died while undergoing treatment on 2 March.

The victim's mother filed the murder case at Sitakunda Police Station. 

Police arrested Babu Sheikh on 3 March, and he gave a confessional statement before a court the following day.

Police said the victim's family and the accused's family lived next to each other and had a long-standing dispute. 

According to the investigation, the child was taken to the hill and killed in a planned attack linked to that dispute.