Couple gets death penalty for trafficking young woman to India

A Khulna tribunal has sentenced a couple to death for trafficking a young woman to India by luring her with a job.

She was sold in India and could not be rescued, Public Prosecutor Farid Ahmed said after Judge Abdus Salam Khan of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-3 delivered the verdict on Wednesday, reports bdnews24.com.

Both convicts, Shahin Sheikh and his wife Asma Begum of the Khanjahan Ali area, are absconding. They have also been fined Tk 100,000 each.

Three others have been acquitted as the charges against them could not be proved.

According to the prosecution, the convicts trafficked the victim of the same area in 2009.

When her family wanted her back, the couple demanded Tk 20,000 as compensation from them. The victim could not be traced.

Her mother filed the case under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act. The court gave its verdict after hearing the testimony of eight people.

Section 7 of the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act, 2012 stipulates death penalty as the maximum if more than one member of an organised group is found guilty of human trafficking for financial or other gains.