Rangpur court sentences two to life in prison in 2010 rape case

A Rangpur court has sentenced a man and a woman to life in prison for raping a girl in 2010.

Rangpur Judge Zabid Hossain announced the verdict Thursday.

The convicts are Taskir Hossain, 28, and his accomplice Dulali Akter, 28. Both of them hailed from the district’s Mithapukur Upazila.

They were also fined Tk 25,000 each and will have to spend an additional six months in jail if they fail to pay the fine.

They were present in the court during the verdict.

Dulali, then a third-year student of Bangla Department at Rangpur Govt College, used to live in a women’s dormitory at Shakib Tower at Khamarpara.

She invited one of her female friends who also studied Bangla at Carmichael College to celebrate her birthday on Dec 21, 2010, according to state prosecutor Khandakar Rafiq Hasnain. 

During her winter vacation in 2010, Dulali was alone in the dormitory.

As soon as her female friend arrived, Taskir Hossain, who was a postgraduate student of zoology at Carmichael College, came into the dormitory wearing a burka. Dulali went outside and locked the door from outside to help Taskir rape her, according to case details. 

Taskir gagged her with a strip of cloth, filmed the incident and threatened to make the video public.

The victim filed a case against the duo with Kotwali Police Station as the man tried again to rape her.

Police pressed charges against them after receiving an investigation report in 2011.

The convicts were arrested but later released on bail.