Published : 11 Jun 2023, 03:18 PM
Updated : 11 Jun 2023, 03:18 PM
A tribunal has sentenced two security guards to prison until death for killing lawyer Rowshan Akhtar while committing a robbery at her home in Dhaka's Mirpur in 2012.
Judge Ali Ahmed of Dhaka's Speedy Trial Tribunal-2 delivered the verdict on Sunday.
The two convicts, Sulaiman Robin alias Tajul, and Russell Jamadar Shakib, were charged with killing Rowshan in the course of the robbery under section 394 of the Penal Code and received the maximum punishment for the offence, according to Public Prosecutor Shamsul Haque Badal. They were also fined Tk 10,000 each.
Sulaiman and Russell were in the dock, but did not react in any way to the verdict, the prosecutor said.
Rowshan's son-in-law Mahmudul Hasan expressed satisfaction with the verdict. However, he said it would have been better if the convicts had been tried for murder instead.
According to the case dossier, Advocate Rowshan lived with her family at a house in Mirpur's A block. The convicts used to work there as security guards.
As they did not have any money, they began scheming a robbery and on Dec 31, 2012, they went to Rowshan's house with a pillow casing in hand.
Rowshan opened the door and the assailants managed to force their way inside the house.
They then pushed her onto a bed and tied up her feet with the bedsheet. Later, they strangled Rowshan to death and made off with Tk 20,000.
Rowshan's husband Mahbub E Sattar, a teacher at Dhaka University, started a case with the Mirpur Police Station the next day.
After an investigation, police filed charges against the security guards in July 2013. Seven months later, in February 2014, the court ordered a trial against them. The testimonies of 15 people were heard before the verdict was reached.
