Ramisa murder: Sohel-Swapna brought to court, defense hearing today

The accused in the case filed in connection woth the rape and murder of child Ramisa Akhtar in Pallabi are set to present self-defence statement today.

On Wednesday (June 3) morning, the main accused Sohel Rana and his wife Swapna Akhtar were brought to the Dhaka court from Keraniganj Central Jail and Kashimpur Central Jail, respectively. They have been kept in the court jail.

They will be produced in the courtroom at 10am. After that, a defense hearing will be held under Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The hearing is scheduled to be held in the court of Judge Masrur Salekin of the Dhaka Metropolitan Children Violence Suppression Tribunal.

The matter was confirmed by the court's bench assistant Pankaj Peter Gomez.

Earlier, the testimony phase of the case ended on Tuesday. Out of the 17 witnesses listed in the case, 16 testified.

The witnesses included Ramisa's father and plaintiff in the case Abdul Hannan Mollah, mother Parveen Akhter, elder sister Raisa Akhter, aunt Mahmuda Akhter, uncle Mizanur Rahman Liton, neighbors and eyewitnesses, doctors, policemen, magistrates and investigation officers.

Last Monday, the same court framed charges against Sohel Rana and Swapna Akhter and ordered the trial to begin.

According to the charges in the case, Ramisa, a second-grade student, went missing from an apartment in Section-11 of Pallabi on the morning of May 19. Later, family members found her sandals in front of the room of Sohel Rana and Swapna Akhter, residents of the adjacent flat. After breaking the door and entering, they found Ramisa's headless body under the bed and her severed head in a bucket in the bathroom.

According to the police, Sohel Rana killed the child after raping her and severed her head from the body in order to hide the body. Later, he escaped by cutting the window grill. Swapna Akhter was detained from the scene and later Sohel Rana was arrested from Fatulla area of ​​Narayanganj. During the investigation, Sohel confessed to the crime and gave a statement in court.

On the day of the incident, Ramisa's father Abdul Hannan Molla filed a case with Pallabi Police Station against two accused. After the investigation, Pallabi Police Station SI Md. Ahiduzzaman submitted a charge sheet to the court against the two accused.

After accepting the charge sheet, the case was sent to the Dhaka Metropolitan Children Violence Suppression Tribunal for trial. After that, the tribunal accepted the charge sheet and started the trial.