3 get 14 years for acid attack

A court has sentenced three people to fourteen years’ imprisonment for throwing acid at a housewife in Bagerhat.

It has also ordered a probe into the negligence on the part of three police officers investigating the case.

The Bagerhat Acid Prevention Tribunal Judge SM Solaimen pronounced the sentence on Sunday.

The court also fined each of the convicts Tk 50,000. They would spend another three years in jail if they failed to pay up.

The court has instructed the Deputy Commissioner to apply Clause 10 of the Acid Prevention Act that says the convicts’ properties must be sold and the money given to the victim; in this case, Rowshan Ara Sumi.

Those sentenced are Molla Masud Rana, 31, from village Maitkumra of Fakirhat Upazila’s Lakhpur union, Mostafa Uchastha, 34, from the same village, and Hannan Sheikh, 34, from the same Upazila.

All three are absconding.

The court reprimanded three police officers for negligence and ordered a probe into their sloppy investigation.

The three officers are former Police Super Khandaker Rafiqul Islam and two Investigation Officers (IO) of the case. The IOs are Fakirhat Police Inspector Ajit Kumar Mitra and SI SM Akram Hossain.

On negligence on the part of the police, the verdict says “despite having substantial documented, oral and expert opinions, the police officers prepared the final charge-sheet in a way that is undesirable, unlawful and condemnable. For some unknown reasons, they submitted the final charge-sheet several times, which deserves a formal probe.”

The court ordered proper action against the officers and wanted copies of the verdict sent to the home secretary and the Inspector General of Police.

The convicts had long been stalking Naoapara villager Jakir Hossain’s wife Rowshan Ara. On the night of Nov 9, they tried to abduct her. When she screamed, they threw acid on her, burning her back and other parts of her body.

Sumi filed a case at the Fakirhat Police station, accusing them along with three or four others.

First, IO Akram Hossain submitted his charge-sheet on Dec 19, 2010, and the second IO, Ajit Kumar Mitra, submitted another on March 8, 2011, stating that the accused were in no way linked to the attack.

In a hearing on the plaintiff’s plea on Apr 10, 2011, the court was convinced that the accused were involved. It later ordered a trial.

State prosecutor Sheikh Mohammed Ali said, “Police negligence was depriving the plaintiff of justice. The court ordered the starting of the proceedings of the case after analyzing the evidence.”

Rowshan Ara Sumi said, “The convicts tried to influence the police and deprive me of justice. But I finally got justice because of the judge’s prudence.”

She also demanded the immediate arrest of the absconding convicts.