The workers were constructing a toilet at a school next to the temple in Faridpur’s Madhukhali Upazila
Dhaka University student rape suspect Mojnu stands trial
A tribunal has ordered the trial of ‘Mojnu’, the lone suspect in the rape of a Dhaka University student, after framing the charges against him in a case that triggered widespread anger eight months ago.
Published : 26 August 2020, 03:42 PM
Updated : 26 August 2020, 03:42 PM
Judge Kamrunnahar of Dhaka’s Seventh Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal read out the charges to Mojnu via mobile phone while indicting him on Wednesday.
Mojnu, who appeared virtually from jail, pleaded not guilty.
The judge set Sept 9 to begin recording of witness testimonies via video call.
No lawyer represented Mojnu in the hearing.
The judge asked him to apply for a lawyer through the prison authorities, said state counsel Afroza Farhana Ahmed Orange.
According to the case filed by the victim’s father, Mojnu dragged the Dhaka University student to a roadside bush near the golf club at Kurmitola on Jan 5 evening and raped her there when she mistakenly got off a bus while going to a friend’s house.
Amid protests on the campus and elsewhere, the Rapid Action Battalion arrested him three days later by tracking the mobile phone he stole from the victim.
Mojnu, a 30-year-old street hawker, is also accused of raping beggars and mugging unsuspecting pedestrians.
He gave a confessional statement to the court in the case on Jan 16 and the Detective Branch of police charged him in court on Mar 16.
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