Forkan gets death for war crimes
On the night of August 17, 1971, Forkan along with local Razakars abducted a teenage Hindu girl from her house at Subidkhali Bazar in Patuakhali.
The criminal gang took her to a secluded place and raped her until she lost consciousness. They then abandoned the girl near her house. The teenager died on that night due to the torture.
Three days later, Forkan Mallik, then 40, along with other Razakars abducted two Hindu women of a family in the same locality.
They took the women to a Razakar camp, raped them for two days and returned the victims to their families. The victims along with their families left the country to avoid humiliation and never returned.
Forkan's act of savagery did not stop there.
Just a day after, he along with some local Razakars abducted a married Muslim woman from her father's house at Kakarbunia Bazaar.
But as her father resisted them, Forkan shot him dead.
They took the woman to a Pakistani army camp where the army men raped her for hours. Forkan and his associates also raped her before returning her two days later.
This woman was one of the victims and eyewitnesses who testified before a special court narrating the brutality Forkan committed 44 years ago.
The International Crimes Tribunal-2 yesterday sentenced Forkan to death for the crimes.
“Untold beastly acts of the group of attackers, which was in fact a locally formed criminal enterprise in which the accused Forkan Mallik was an active associate, were the gravest violation of humanitarian law,” said the tribunal.
The three-member tribunal led by Justice Obaidul Hassan with members Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Md Shahinur Islam found Forkan guilty in three out of five charges framed against him.
Of the three charges, he was handed down death penalty for two charges and sentence of imprisonment until death for another charge. He, however, was acquitted from two other charges.
Forkan was given death sentence for the brutal rape and killing of the teenage Hindu girl, and the rape of the Muslim girl and killing of her father and two other civilians.
He was given “sentences of imprisonment for life till death” for raping two Hindu women and forcing them to leave the country.
“Mass rape is graver than murder. What was the goal of committing such mass rape especially on defenceless Hindu women? Its goal was not to ravish the extreme wealth of a woman and to kill her. The goal was to cripple the socio-political order and cultural integrity,” said Justice Hassan when he read out the summary of the 99-page judgment.
“The nation today pays humble reverence to those women who laid highest sacrifice for the cause of our independence,” the judgment read, adding that the rape victims shall always remain alive in the nation's history as “bravest women”.
Forkan was acquitted from the charge of killing four people, including two local Awami League leaders in Mirzaganj, and forceful religious conversion of three Hindu brothers in Subidkhali Bazar and their deportation.
The prosecution also failed to prove that Forkan was a Razakar. He was “a notorious associate of the local Razakars”, the court observed.
Citing the arguments of Prosecutor Tureen Afroz that Forkan can well be prosecuted as an individual if it was not proved as a Razakar, the court said: “It is now settled that the gravity of the crimes committed by the convicted person stems from the degree of his participation in the crimes, irrespective of his position and status.”
The convict was taken to the courtroom around 10:30am yesterday.
Forkan, who wore a golden coloured panjabi and check lungi, remained motionless, as he could not understand the verdict pronounced in English. Later he learned of the verdict from his lawyer and family members.
The prosecution and victims' family members expressed their satisfaction over the verdict.
“We are happy. Especially, I am very happy because he [Forkan] was sentenced to death for raping women,” said Prosecutor Sabina Yesmin Khan Munni.
Forkan's lawyer Abdus Salam Khan said they were dissatisfied with the verdict. “The case was filed over family enmity in the first place. I will advise my client to lodge an appeal”.
Zahir Mallik, son of the convict, claimed that his father is innocent and said they would move an appeal. The convict will get 30 days' time to file an appeal with the Appellate division of the Supreme Court.
Son of Sader Mallik and Sonavan Bibi of Sailabunia village under Mirzaganj, Forkan was an active supporter of the Muslim League, an anti-liberation party in 1971. Later he was affiliated with the BNP, prosecution said.
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