Teenage girl sentenced to death for killing parents [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

Teenage girl sentenced to death for killing parents

Local November 13, 2015

The teenage daughter of slain Special Branch inspector Mahfuzur Rahman was sentenced to death by a speedy tribunal in Dhaka on Thursday for killing her parents in 2013.
The Speedy Trial Tribunal-3 Judge Syed Ahmed convicted Oishee Rahman for killing her police officer father Mahfuzur Rahman and her mother Swapna Rahman, who were found murdered in their house in the capital’s Chamelibagh on August 16, 2013.
Judge Syed Ahmed also fined Oishee Tk 40,000 for killing her parents. In default, she would serve two years in jail.
Rights activists and the defence counsel said that Oishee did not deserve death sentence as she was a teenage girl.
The case investigator, Abu Al Khair, inspector of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s detective and criminal intelligence division, however, claimed that the medical examination of Oishee had confirmed that she committed the crime one day before she turned 19 and her age was now 20.
Amid tight security, the judge, in a packed courtroom, pronounced the verdict in the presence of Oishee and two of her friends — Mizanur Rahman Rony and Asaduzzaman Jony — who were accused of helping their friend to commit the crime and giving shelter to her.
The court awarded Mizanur, who was on bail, two years rigorous imprisonment for sheltering Oishee after the murders. Mizanur was also fined Tk 5,000, and in default, he has to serve one-month additional imprisonment.
Asaduzzaman, who had been in jail, however, was acquitted from the charge of assisting in the killing and the court declared he would be released immediately if there was no other case against him.
Oishee stood on the dock with her face covered in veil when the verdict was pronounced. She broke
down after hearing the judgement.
‘She didn’t get justice… we will move to the higher court challenging the order. Oishee was an addict and it was confirmed during the investigation. She was only 17 year-old when she committed the crime,’ said her lawyer Farruque Ahmed in reaction.
In reaction, Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association’s executive director Salma Ali said, ‘death penalty is generally unacceptable. In the case of Oishee, it is more sensitive as there is still a debate over her age.’
She said ‘the conviction must be reviewed in order to allow her to rectify herself.’
‘Death is undesirable, whether judicial or extrajudicial…’ said Nur Khan Liton, the director (investigation) of rights group Ain O Salish Kendra, without elaborating further.
In the observation, the judge, however, said Oishee was an ‘adult’ when she committed the crime which, the judge observed, was ‘cool headed’ and ‘premeditated.’
Oishee had mixed sleeping pills in coffee and offered her mother and afterwards her father to take the coffee. At first Oishee killed her mother and then she killed her father to cover up the first murder, the judge continued.
The death reference would be transferred to the High Court by seven working days as usual.
Oishee would be able to appeal at the High Court by 30 days against the verdict.
The special public prosecutor Mohammad Mahabubur Rahman said the highest punishment was awarded for the crime she had committed.
On August 16, 2013, police had recovered the bodies of SB inspector Mahfuzur Rahman and his wife Swapna Rahman from their house. Oishee went into hiding when the bodies were discovered.
Mahfuzur’s brother Mohammad Mashiur Rahman Rubel had filed a case with Paltan police station on August 17 against unknown people. Oishee surrendered to the police that day and confessed to her crime.
Police officials had arrested the domestic help of the couple’s house, Khadiza Akhter Sumi, and Oishee’s two friends Asaduzzaman and Mizanur, in connection with the murder.
Police submitted two charge sheets–one against Oishee and her two friends and another against under-aged Sumi—on March 9, 2014.
According to the charge sheets, Oishee alone killed her parents while Jony instigated the murders and Rony gave her shelter after the incident.
The case investigator, Abu Al Khair, inspector of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s detective and criminal intelligence division, told New Age the medical examination of Oishee had confirmed that she committed the crime one day before she turned 19.
The trial had started on July 8, 2014 and 39 out of 57 prosecution witnesses testified in the case.
During the trial, Oishee pleaded not guilty.
Sumi’s trial proceeding is underway at a juvenile court in Dhaka. Sumi has been accused of assisting Oishee in concealing the bodies.