Court acquits three in Badhan case

Dhaka, Aug 31 (bdnews24.com) – A Dhaka court has released three accused for violating Shaon Akhter Badhan's chastity.

Magistrate Mehedi Hasan Talukder on Tuesday passed the order in presence of the acquitted Fazlul Haq Rasel, Khan Mejbaul Alam Tutul and Chandan Kumar Ghosh.

The court stated that they were released as accusations levelled against them could not be proven.

Rasel, Tutul and Ghosh allegedly violated Badhan's chastity at Dhaka University's Teachers & Students' Centre (TSC) on Dec 31 night in 1999.

Badhan filed a case with Ramna police on Jan 6, several days after the incident the following year.

The case details say that Shaon along with some of her friends came to the TSC on new year's eve when the acquitted along with 10 to 12 others began to harass Shaon and tug at her clothes before allegedly violating her chastity.

The incident was widely reported and created much hype across the country and was even discussed in parliament at that time.

On May 14, the detective branch of police pressed charges against them.

Defence lawyer Shahadat Hossain told bdnews24.com that 15 out of 24 witnesses gave their statements before court, but Badhan herself did not.

Most cases in Bangladesh suffer because of witnesses' denial to testify either for intimidation or hassle in the country.

However, it could not be known why Badhan stayed away from giving statements before the court in her own case.

bdnews24.com/pb/zr/ta/2047h