After a five‑day investigation, police yesterday submitted the charge sheet in the case over the brutal rape and murder of eight‑year‑old Ramisa Akhter in the capital’s Pallabi.
According to the charge sheet, prime suspect Sohel Rana raped and murdered the child and destroyed evidence. His wife, Swapna Khatun, 26, is accused of destroying evidence and giving false information to protect Sohel.
The filing of the 47‑page document marks one of the fastest charge sheet submissions in recent times.
Judge Masrur Salekin of the Children Violence Suppression Tribunal in Dhaka Metropolitan accepted the charges and set June 1 for a hearing on the charge framing, said Pankoj Peter Gomes, bench assistant of the tribunal.
The filing of the 47‑page document marks one of the fastest charge sheet submissions in recent times.
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Earlier in the day, Pallabi Police Station Sub‑Inspector Ohiduzzaman submitted the charge sheet before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka. After a hearing, the case was transferred to the Children Violence Suppression Tribunal.
Also yesterday, the government appointed Supreme Court lawyer Musa Kalimullah as a state defence lawyer to represent the accused.
Earlier on Sunday, the government appointed Azizur Rahman Dulu as special public prosecutor in the case.
The charge sheet said Sohel, 30, an autorickshaw mechanic, told a Dhaka metropolitan magistrate on May 20 that he regularly took drugs in the mornings after others in the shared flat left for work.
Around 9:30am on May 19, Sohel saw Ramisa next door and called her in. Once she came, he took her to his bathroom. “When she screamed, Sohel clamped a hand over her mouth and stuffed rags into it before raping her,” the confessional statement read.
When the child lost consciousness, Sohel thought she had died. He then used a knife to mutilate her body in an attempt to destroy evidence, the statement said.
According to the autopsy report, Ramisa died from haemorrhage and shock caused by decapitation. All of her injuries were antemortem -- inflicted before death.
Sohel’s confession also narrates the chain of events that followed.
He said, “Around 10:30am, while people were searching for Ramisa, her mother saw Ramisa’s shoes in front of my room and started calling out for her. As there was no response, people began banging on my door. At that, I panicked.
“My wife told me to flee, and I broke the window grilles with a wrench and escaped. As the crowd kept pounding on the door, my wife held it shut and helped me flee.”
She opened the door only when he successfully fled, he added.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed yesterday said the trial proceedings in the case are likely to be completed within the next five to seven days.
Arrangements are being made to keep the relevant court open during the Eid holidays, he added.
Referring to the recent rise in gruesome crimes, Salahuddin said, “This is a form of social degradation. We need social reform. The level, frequency and nature of rape are going beyond our limits of tolerance.”
Sparked by Ramisa’s murder, protests continued for the fifth straight day in Dhaka and beyond yesterday, denouncing violence against women, children and other vulnerable groups. Demonstrators demanded swift justice for sexual violence and stronger social resistance to such crimes.
