A court in Bogura has sentenced five people to death and five others to 10 years’ imprisonment over the murder of eight-year-old Rifat Hossain in Shahjahanpur upazila of Bogura district in 2018.
Judge Anwarul Haque of the Bogura Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-1 delivered the verdict on Sunday.
Those sentenced to death are Abul Kalam Azad, Sagar, Selim Islam, Mehedi Hasan, and Raju Islam. All of them are residents of the Khadas area in Shahjahanpur upazila. Two of the convicts, Sagar and Selim Islam, have long been absconding.
The court also handed 10-year jail terms to five others, who were minors at the time of the incident. They are Sojib Hasan, Mofizul Islam, Jahid Hasan, Borhan Ali, and Bayezid Hossain, also from the same locality.
According to the case details, Rifat Hossain, son of Enamul Haque of Khadas Hatkhola area, was abducted and killed on 15 July, 2018.
His body was later recovered on 18 July.
The accused, all neighbours of the victim’s family, were charged under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act.
Prosecution documents said the main accused, Abul Kalam Azad, had been pressuring Enamul Haque for money after his return from abroad. On the day of the incident, Azad allegedly demanded Tk100,000 as a loan. Following Enamul’s refusal, the child went missing later that afternoon.
After failing to trace his son, Enamul filed a general diary (GD) with Shahjahanpur Police Station. Three days later, police recovered the body of a child from beneath a bridge in nearby Poyalgacha village.
The father later identified the victim as his son, Rifat.
A total of 11 individuals were named in the charge sheet. However, one accused, Masud Rana, was released from proceedings after his death during the trial.
