Attacker Badrul awarded life term imprisonment

Five months ago, the nation was shocked when a machete-wielding youth hacked Sylhet college student Khadiza Begum Nargis.

Today, she got justice on a very special day when people all over the world are celebrating International Women's Day. 

Khadiza and the country’s wait ends as Badrul Alam, a then BCL leader of the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, was sentenced to life term imprisonment by a Sylhet court today for the October 3 attack.

The convict was also fined Tk 5,000, in default of which he will have to serve two more months in jail, our Sylhet correspondent reports quoting Public Prosecutor Misbah Bin Siraj.

Metropolitan Sessions Judge of Sylhet Akbar Hossain Mridha passed the verdict in presence of Badrul in the courtroom.

A video that captured the brutal attack where Badrul was seen landing blow after blow with a machete on Khadiza spread like wildfire on social media.

While Khadiza fought for her life, protests erupted nationwide demanding justice and severe punishment for the offender.

Khadiza was treated for her life threatening injuries first at the city’s Square Hospitals and was then moved to Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) in Savar on November 28. While there, she slowly re-learned to do day to day activities, her memory improved as well. 

​On February 24, she returned to her home in Sylhet. 

A Sylhet court recorded all 33 witnesses' deposition, including Khadiza's testimony recorded on February 26 this year. On March 1, the attempt to murder case, filed on October 4, 2016, was forwarded to Sylhet Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court.

On November 15, 2016, the district's additional chief metropolitan magistrate accepted the charge sheet that police pressed accusing Badrul on November 8. Badrul confessed to the crime in court on October 5, 2016.