Rangpur man awarded life imprisonment for abduction, rape of minor

A Rangpur court has sent a man to prison for life over the kidnapping and rape of a ninth-grader girl in 2018.

Mehedi Hasan Rabbi, tried and convicted in absentia, has been given the life term for rape, 14 years in jail for abduction, and slapped with a Tk50,000 fine, confirmed state counsel Khandaker Rafiq Hasnain.

Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal 1 Judge Jabid Hossain passed the verdict on Wednesday.

The court also acquitted four others as the charges against them were not proved.

According to case details, Rabbi and his associates abducted the Class IX student of Cantonment Public School and College on July 7, 2018. He held the girl captive for nine days and raped her multiple times.

Three days later, the girl’s father filed the case against Rabbi at Kotwali police station.

Police rescued the girl from Dhaka’s Ashulia nine days after her abduction, on July 17, 2018.

On January 31, 2019, police submitted the charge sheet against Rabbi and four other accused. The court delivered the verdict after examining evidence and testimonies of 12 witnesses.

Family members of the girl and the state counsel said they were happy with the verdict, which the court said will be executed after the convict is arrested.

However, Rabbi’s lawyers said they will appeal at the High Court challenging it.