Published: 11:50 PM, 24 May 2026
Rape case verdict announced within 29 days for the first time
The District Child Violence Prevention Court has ordered the death penalty for a person named Shakil Hossain in the case of the rape of an 11-year-old child in Meherpur. For the first time in Bangladesh's history, witnesses were taken in person and through virtual video calls within 29 working days. Judge Md. Tajul Islam of the Meherpur District Child Violence Prevention Court announced the verdict on Sunday (24 May 2026) at 1:30 pm.
The matter of the death sentence was confirmed by Public Prosecutor of the Meherpur Women and Children Prevention Tribunal, Adv. Mostafizur Rahman Tuhin. The convicted accused Shakil Hossain is the son of Abdal Haque of Chandpur village in Gangni upazila of Meherpur. According to the case report, on June 16, 2025, when a fifth-grade student of Chandpur village in Gangni upazila went to give food to her father in the field next to his house, rapist Shakil Hossain took the child to a jute field at gunpoint and raped her. Later, when the girl returned home and informed her family about the rape, the girl's father, Ehsanul Haque, filed a rape case with Gangni Police Station.
After filing the case, the police arrested the rapist and sent him to jail. The court took the testimony of 11 witnesses in the rape case within 29 working days through virtual video calls and in person. Based on the testimony, the court sentenced the rapist, Shakil Hossain, to death.
