A Magura court on Saturday sentenced Hitu Sheikh to death in the much-talked about rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl Asiya, while acquitting three others linked to the case triggering emotional outbursts from the victim's family.
Judge M Zahid Hasan of the Magura Women and Child Abuse Prevention Tribunal pronounced the verdict, with state lawyer Monirul Islam Mukul confirming the ruling.
The court acquitted the child's brother-in-law Sajeeb Sheikh, his brother Ratul Sheikh and their mother Zaheda Begum citing insufficient evidence. The decision left the victim's mother distraught as she demanded harsher punishment for all involved.
"They were with Hitu Sheikh and they helped to kill my daughter. How can they walk free?" she cried outside the courtroom. She specifically named Sajeeb calling him negligent in his duty to protect the child. "I will appeal to the High Court. They must be punished too," she vowed.
The case dates back to March 6, when the girl was raped while visiting her sister's home in Sreepur Upazila in Magura. She died a week later at Dhaka's Combined Military Hospital. Police arrested Hitu Sheikh, who later confessed to the crime in a statement recorded under Section 164. The charge sheet detailed horrific acts, including the use of a blade in the assault, which is a brutality that activists described as "unimaginable bestiality."
Investigations revealed that Zaheda Begum took the child to a local cleric after the rape instead of taking her to a hospital falsely claiming she had been 'possessed by a jinn.'
The cleric, noticing injuries on the girl's neck and chest, immediately urged hospitalization. Zaheda even misled doctors at Magura Sadar Hospital by saying the child had suffered stomach pains, which delayed the proper treatment.
The charge sheet accused Zaheda of evidence tampering under Section 201 of the Penal Code, while Sajeeb and Ratul faced charges under Section 504. Despite these allegations, the court cleared them prompting outrage. Special Prosecutor Ehsanul Haque Samaji said authorities would review the verdict and consider an appeal.
The verdict was delivered just over two months after the crime but for the grieving family, the legal battle is far from over.
