Ghoraghat UNO attack: Accused sentenced to thirteen years

A Dinajpur court yesterday sentenced the lone accused in the much-talked-about Ghoraghat UNO hammer attack case to 13 years imprisonment.

The accused, Md Rabiul Islam, 30, will also have to pay a Tk 13,000 fine, in default of which he will have to spend another nine months in jail.

Rabiul was a former employee of Dinajpur Deputy Commissioner and gardener of the Ghoraghat upazila parishad office.

According to police, Rabiul attacked Wahida because he lost his job while she was in charge.

Sadia Sultana, judge of the Additional District and Sessions Judge's Court-3 in Dinajpur, delivered the verdict in a packed courtroom, where the accused was also present.

According to the prosecution, Wahida Khanam, 34, Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Ghoraghat, was critically injured in a brutal hammer attack at her official residence at the upazila parishad complex on the night of September 2, 2020.

Her father, who was there at the time, was also injured in the attack, while her three-year-old son was unhurt.

Police said the attacker, who was later identified as Rabiul, entered the house through a gap in a ventilator, and attacked Wahida with a hammer.

She suffered severe head injuries.

On information, police and the local administration rescued and rushed her to the upazila health complex. The next day, she was shifted to Rangpur Medical College Hospital. In the afternoon, she was flown to Dhaka by a Bangladesh Air Force helicopter for treatment at National Institute of Neurosciences & Hospital.

Her father, meanwhile, completed treatment at RMCH.

Wahida's brother Sheikh Farid Ahmed filed a case with Ghoraghat police against an unnamed accused.

The case was immediately transferred to the Detective Branch of police, and Imam Zafar, its former officer-in-charge, was made the investigation officer.

After analysing CCTV footage and other clues, police identified Rabiul.

He was arrested from a village in Biral upazila on September 12 that year. After being produced before a court, he was sent to jail the same day.

On November 21, 2020, the IO submitted the charge sheet against Rabiul.  

Advocate Ranjit Kumar, assistant public prosecutor, said the judge delivered the judgement within the shortest possible time after examining all the testimonies of the 51 witnesses in the case. 

He added that Rabiul was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment under Section 307 of the CrPC, and was fined Tk 10,000.

He was also sentenced to three years in jail under section 325, with a fine of Tk 3,000.

The sentences will be effective separately, Ranjit said.

Meanwhile, Abdul Sattar, the defence lawyer, said they would appeal against the verdict to the High Court.