A court in Dhaka has sentenced Mobarak Hossain Mohan, a member of Dhaka Bar Association, to three years’ rigorous imprisonment in a case filed over the sexual harassment of a woman in the capital’s Wari area nine years ago.
The court also fined him Tk5,000, in default of payment of which he will have to serve one more month of simple imprisonment. Judge Muntasir Ahmed of Dhaka Nari O Shishu Nirjatan Daman Tribunal-1 handed down the verdict on Thursday.
State counsel Shahina Akhtar confirmed the sentence. The accused appeared in court prior to the delivery of the judgment. He was subsequently sent to prison under a conviction warrant, according to court bench assistant Md Forkan.
According to the details of the case, Mobarak Hossain Mohan is the husband of the victim’s cousin-in-law.
They resided in separate rooms of the same residence on Bhojohori Saha Street in Wari, Dhaka.
During that time, Mobarak repeatedly made immoral proposals and inappropriate gestures towards the woman. Although the woman informed her husband about the matter, she refrained from disclosing it to anyone else out of fear of public embarrassment.
On 20 August 2017, at around 8:45pm, Mobarak sexually harassed the woman by grabbing her from behind near the kitchen of the house. The victim filed a case with Wari Police Station on the very same day.
Following an investigation into the case, Sub-Inspector (SI) Harun Or Rashid of Wari Police Station submitted a charge sheet to the court accusing Mobarak on 30 September 2017.
The trial formally commenced on 1 April 2019 with the framing of charges against the accused.
During the trial, the tribunal recorded the depositions of 12 out of 16 witnesses. Following the hearing of the defendant’s self-defence statement and the closing arguments from both sides, the court delivered the verdict on Thursday.
