Driver, helper get life for rape on bus
A Manikganj court today sentenced a bus driver and his helper to life term rigorous imprisonment in a case filed for violating a girl on a running bus on Dhaka-Aricha highway last year.
The court also fined driver Dipu Miah, 32, and helper Kashem Ali, 26, Tk 50,000, in default, to suffer three years more in jail.
In addition, Dipu Miah was handed down five years' rigorous imprisonment and penalised Tk 5,000 on charge of attempting to rape the girl. The driver will have to serve one year more in jail if he failed to pay the fine.
However, the imprisonment of Dipu Miah on the two separate charges will run concurrently, District and Sessions Judge AKM Mostofa Dewan said while pronouncing the verdict in presence on the convicts.
On January 24 last year, a garment worker, aged about 18, was violated by the driver and helper on a running bus in Manikganj.
The victim then filed a case with Sadar Police Station saying that Dipu attempted to rape the girl but the helper violated her in front of the driver.
Police in separate drives arrested the accused from Nabinagar in Ashulia on the following day.
Public Prosecutor (PP) Abdus Salam, advocates--Touhida Khandaker, Fahmida Akhter and Monwara Begum of Bangladesh National Women Lawyer's Association (BNWLA) -- defended the state while advocates Mohiuddin Ahmed and abdul Jalil Molla Biltu stood for the accused.
The PP and BNWLA Executive Director Salma Ali, who were present at the courtroom during the judgement, expressed satisfaction over the verdict.
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