Three people sentenced to death for gang rape, inciting suicide of teenager in Netrokona

The judge hands down the death penalty in the presence of all three suspects

A Netrokona court has sentenced three men to death for the gang rape of 14-year-old Panna, inciting her to kill herself in a 2017 case that drew public outrage.

On Monday, the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal in Netrokona also sentenced the convicts to a decade of rigorous imprisonment and fined them Tk 100,000 each. Failure to pay the fine will add months to their jail terms.

Judge Dr AKM Emdadul Haque delivered the verdict on Monday afternoon in the presence of the suspects.

According to court documents, the incident occurred on the evening of Sept 3, 2017, when the victim, the daughter of a rickshaw-puller in Thakurakona, was lured to a nearby fish farm and raped by the group of men.

When family members rescued her and brought her home, the accused allegedly threatened them to keep the matter under wraps.

The next morning, Panna was found hanging in an abandoned house nearby.

Her mother filed a case naming three suspects, but due to their alleged influence, the incident was initially dismissed as a suicide. The family was forced to bury her without an autopsy.

On Sept 10, the court ordered the body exhumed. A second postmortem was conducted, after which police arrested the three accused - Apu, Mamun, and Sultan Mia.

State prosecutor Nurul Kabir Rubel said police submitted the final chargesheet in the case on Apr 5, 2018.