Death penalty for Sohel, Swapna in Ramisa rape-murder case

A Dhaka court has sentenced Sohel Rana and his wife Swapna Khatun to death for the brutal rape and murder of eight-year-old schoolgirl Ramisa Akhter in the capital's Pallabi area.

Judge Masroor Salekin of the Dhaka Metropolitan Child Violence Suppression Tribunal delivered the verdict, concluding a historic and unprecedentedly swift 19-day legal trial on Sunday (June 7).

The two convicts were brought to the court premises under tight security early Sunday, with Swapna arriving at 8:30am followed by the prime accused, Sohel Rana, at 8:50am. Ahead of the verdict announcement at 11am, law enforcement deployed additional police personnel and plainclothes intelligence operatives to fortify security across the metropolitan court premises.

The horrific incident took place on the morning of May 19, when Ramisa, a second-class student at Popular Model High School, left her apartment and was deceptively lured into the couple's flat by Swapna. When Ramisa's mother went searching for her an hour later, she noticed her daughter’s shoes outside Sohel's door. Receiving no response, family members and neighbors broke into the apartment to discover Ramisa's headless body on the bedroom floor and her severed head concealed inside a large bucket.

Following a distress call to the national emergency helpline 999, police immediately detained Swapna at the scene, while Sohel Rana was tracked down and arrested in Fatullah, Narayanganj, using digital surveillance.

The case moved at an extraordinary pace, with the investigation officer submitting the chargesheet within four days on May 24. The tribunal framed formal charges on June 1, cross-examined 16 witnesses in a single day on June 2, and concluded closing arguments on June 4, setting the stage for today's landmark capital punishment ruling.