Published : 09 Jul 2026, 09:23 PM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:23 AM
A court has sentenced a man to death for murdering an 8-year-old girl in Chattogram's Sitakunda Upazila, four months after the killing.
Judge Jannatul Ferdous of the Chattogram Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-4 delivered the verdict on Thursday.
The court also fined the convict, identified as Babu Sheikh.
The girl, identified as Ira Moni, was found murdered in a remote hilly area after her throat was slit.
Tribunal bench assistant Abbas Hossain told bdnews24.com that the judge sentenced the accused to death as the murder charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code was “proven”.
Babu was also sentenced to life imprisonment in prison under Section 7 of the Women and Child Repression Act and 10 years in prison under Section 9.
The deceased Jannatul Nesa, aka Ira Moni, was from Choto Kumira Master Para in Sitakunda.
Her father Monirul Islam is a three-wheeler driver by trade.
Ira Moni was a second-grade student at a local primary school.
After Ira Moni's death, police arrested the 45-year-old Babu from the Kumira area of Sitakunda Upazila on Mar 3.
Babu hailed from Madhyam Pulupara in Gaibandha and he lived in the house next door to Ira Moni's family in Sitakunda.
Chattogram District Superintendent of Police Mohammad Nazir Ahmed Khan had said in a press conference that Babu planned to kill Ira due to a dispute with her father Monirul.
As part of the plan, he lured the child to the hills of Sitakunda, first “attempting to rape” her and then slitting her throat.
On the morning of Mar 1, Babu allegedly took Ira Moni out of the house, promising to buy her chocolates and go for a walk.
Later, they took a bus from Kumira to Sitakunda. From there, they walked to the hills in the Botanical Garden area.
On the day of the incident, workers engaged in road repair work on the hills found Ira Moni with her throat slit.
The wounded child had reached the workers on foot from the forest.
The workers then took the child to the local Upazila health complex.
From there, she was sent to Chittagong Medical College Hospital.
After undergoing treatment there for two days, Ira Moni died on Mar 3.
Police said, citing Babu's interrogation, the arrestee took the child to the hills and tried to rape her.
When she said she would tell people about the incident, Babu slit her throat with a knife and left.
Ira Moni’s mother filed a case over the incident.
Police submitted a chargesheet to the court on Jun 11.
The court indicted Babu on Jun 18 and started recording testimony on Jun 21.
