13 sentenced to 10-year imprisonment for stripping and assaulting woman in Noakhali

A court has sentenced 13 members of the ‘Delowar Bahini’ criminal gang to 10 years in prison for breaking into the home of a woman in Noakhali’s Begumganj and then stripping and assaulting her.

Judge Jainal Abedin of the Noakhali Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-1 announced the verdict in the case on Tuesday.

Of the 13 convicts, nine – Nur Hossain Badol, Abdur Rahim, Abul Kalam, Israfil Hossain Miah, Mainuddin Saju, Shamsuddin Sumon Contractor, Nur Hossain Rasel, Anowar Hossain Shohaf and Delowar Hossain Delu – were brought to court from prison to hear the verdict, reports bdnews24.com.

Four other suspects – Abdur Rab Chowdhury, Mostafizur Rahman, Jamal Uddin and Mizanur Rahman Tarek – were tried in absentia.

In addition to the prison sentence, each convict was fined Tk 50,000, said state lawyer Mamunur Rashid Labhlu.

The victim was also present in court to hear the verdict. Her lawyer Molla Habibur Rasul Mamun expressed their satisfaction in their immediate response to the verdict.

Several human rights and women’s rights leaders present in court for the verdict also expressed their satisfaction with the court’s decision.

The relatives of the convicts, however, were incensed with journalists asking for their comment at the court premises.

On Sept 2, 2020, a member of the local Delowar Bahini criminal gang entered the home of a middle-aged woman in Eklashpur Union’s Joykrishnapur Village, stripped and assaulted her.

On Oct 4 of that year, a mobile phone video of the incident went viral on social media. The victim was taken into police custody amid fear of another attack.

The incident was condemned across the country and various organisations protested for the perpetrators to be arrested and punished.

The victim then filed two cases at the Begumganj Model Police Station, one under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act and a second under the Pornography Act.

She filed another case at the police station afterwards, accusing gang leader Delowar Hossain Delu and his accomplice Abul Kalam of raping her on Oct 5, 2019 and Apr 7, 2020.

The Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal sentenced the two to life in prison in the rape case on Oct 4 of this year.

The Police Bureau of Investigation, or PBI, submitted a chargesheet against 14 suspects in the assault case.

One suspect, local union council member Moazzem Hossain Shohag, was later dropped from the case.