Death of Renu in mob beating: 1 sentenced to death, 4 life imprisonment

A Dhaka court today sentenced a man to death and four others to life imprisonment in a case filed over the murder of Taslima Begum Renu by a mob in the capital's Badda in July 2019.

The condemned convict is Ibrahim alias Hridoy Mollah while Abul Kalam Azad, Kamal Hossain and Asadul Islam, Hriya Begum Moyna were given life imprisonment in jail (30 years).

Judge Mohammad Morshed Alam of the Sixth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka handed down the sentence in presence of the convicts at a packed courtroom.

The judge also fined them Tk 1 lakh each, in default of which they will have to serve one year more in jail.

The judge said the prosecution was able to prove the charges brought against five people beyond doubt and they were given the punishment.

The judge also acquitted eight people -- Mohin Uddin, Md Shahin, Bachchu Mia, Md Bappi, Murad Mia, Sohel Rana, Billal Mollah and Md Raju --as the charges brought against them were not proven.

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Justice for Renu

Earlier, the prosecution and the defence completed their arguments, and the court recorded statements of 19 prosecution witnesses, including the complainant of the case.

On April 1 of 2021, the same court framed charges against the accused in the case.

On July 20 of 2019, 40-year-old Renu, a single mother of four-and-a-half-year-old Tuba and Ta-seen al Mahir, a fifth-grader, had gone to Badda Uttar-Purba Primary School to inquire about admission in hopes of getting Tuba enrolled.

But a mob beat her brutally to death in front of the school gate, suspecting her to be a child kidnapper. Videos taken on mobile phones and CCTV, which later went viral, showed some young people kicking, striking, and trampling Taslima amid a gathering of several hundred people, most of whom were just silent spectators.

The killing, which touched off a firestorm of outrage in the country, took place at a time when incidents of mob attacks on people labelling them as "child kidnappers" were on the rise

Following the incident, Syed Nasir Uddin Titu, Renu's nephew, filed the case against 400 to 500 unidentified attackers with Badda Police Station.

Later, Investigation Officer Abdul Haque, an inspector of detective branch of police, submitted two charge sheets -- one for 13 people who are adults and another for two juveniles -- in the murder case.

The trial against two minors is now pending with the Juvenile Court-7 of Dhaka.