Charges filed in alleged rape and murder of 8-year-old Ramisa

A Dhaka court has sent the case over the alleged rape and murder of 8-year-old Ramisa Akter to a specialised tribunal, clearing the way for trial proceedings against two suspects.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ashraful Haque ordered the transfer after reviewing the chargesheet filed by the police naming Sohel Rana and his wife Swapna Akhter on Sunday.

Prosecution Police Sub-Inspector (SI) Abul Kalam Azad said the case has been transferred to Judge Masrur Salekin of the Dhaka Children Violence Suppression Tribunal.

Earlier in the day, SI Wahiduzzaman of Pallabi Police submitted the chargesheet.

Wahiduzzaman said the investigation report has accused Sohel of rape and murder, and Swapna with aiding and abetting the killing.

The case names 15 as witnesses.

Police recovered the body of Ramisa from a flat in the B Block of Section 11 in Pallabi on May 19.

Law enforcers said that 32-year-old Sohel, who was subletting the flat, severed the child’s head that morning, and then escaped by cutting the window bars of the flat. However, his wife stayed back.

Police then arrested Swapna from the house.

That evening, Sohel was arrested from Narayanganj’s Fatullah.

Ramisa's father Abdul Hannan Mollah filed a case at Pallabi Police Station that day, accusing two people over the brutal incident.

The complaint said Ramisa lived with her family in a flat in Section 11 of Pallabi. She was a student in second grade of Popular Model High School.

Sohel and Swapna were subletting another flat in the building.

When Ramisa left her house around 9:30am on Tuesday, the suspects allegedly took her to their room on the third floor of the building.

Around 10:30am, while looking for Ramisa to take her to school, her mother reportedly saw the girl's sandals in front of the suspects’ room.

Then, after calling out and not receiving any response, Ramisa's mother broke down the door with the help of the other flat tenants and entered.

They found Ramisa's body separated from head in a bucket in the bathroom of the suspect’s residence. Swapna was standing there.

During interrogation, Swapna said Sohel locked Ramisa in the bathroom, then raped and killed her, also dismemering her arms from the shoulders.

No member of the Dhaka Bar Association has agreed to provide legal services for the suspects so far.

On Saturday, the government appointed a special public prosecutor to handle the case for the state.