Published : 06 Jul 2026, 09:37 PM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:22 AM
A Noakhali court has sentenced a man to death for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl named Asma Akter in Chatkhil Upazila.
Farzana Akter, judge of the Noakhali Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal, delivered the verdict on Monday.
Asma was a native of Megha village in Badalkot Union. The convict Shahadat Hossain, aged 26, hailed from the same village.
Shahadat was present in court while the verdict was announced. The court also fined him Tk 100,000.
Before the verdict was announced, Shahadat was brought to the court from the district jail in a prison van on Tuesday morning.
The victim's father, Shahjahan, who is also the plaintiff in the case, was present in the courtroom alongside other family members. After the verdict was delivered, they expressed satisfaction with the judgment and demanded that the sentence be executed as soon as possible.
According to the case statement, on Mar 24, 2022, five-year-old Asma went missing from her home in Megha village of Chatkhil Upazila. Eight days after the incident, police arrested Shahadat. Based on information provided by the accused, police later recovered the partially decomposed body of the child from a septic tank behind his house.
In his confessional statement before the court, Shahadat admitted that he strangled the child to death out of fear that the rape would be exposed. He then disposed of her body by throwing it into the septic tank.
Public Prosecutor Selim Shahi said, "Based on the evidence presented during the trial and the accused's confession, the court has awarded the maximum punishment. We are satisfied with the verdict, as it once again upholds justice."
The rape and murder of Asma caused widespread outrage throughout Chatkhil at that time. Local residents organised protest marches, human chains, and public demonstrations demanding the maximum punishment for the perpetrator.
