4 to die for rape and murder of law student Rupa

Four transport workers are awarded death penalty in a case filed for raping and killing law student Rupa Khatun in a moving bus in Tangail. In the photo, the accused are being taken to court on February 12, 2018. Photo: Star/ Mirza Shakil

-4 transport workers get death

-Supervisor of bus jailed 7yrs

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-Supervisor fined Tk 1 lakh, which is to be paid to Rupa’s family

-Bus directed to be seized and handed over to Rupa’s family 

Four transport workers were awarded death penalty in a case filed for raping and killing law student Rupa Khatun in a moving bus in Tangail.

The death row convicts are bus driver Habibur and three helpers Shamim, Akram and Jahangir were present in the court when Abul Mansur Miah, acting judge of Tangail Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal delivered the verdict.

The court in Tangail also sentenced the supervisor of the bus, Safar alias Gendu, to seven years rigorous imprisonment and fined Tk 1 lakh, our Tangail correspondent reports.

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Death of a dream

The fine paid by Gendu has been directed to be handed over to Rupa’s family.

Meanwhile, Rupa’s family expressed their satisfaction with the verdict, reports our correspondent.

On August 25 last year, police recovered an unidentified body of a woman near Tangail-Mymensingh road in Tangail's Madhupur upazila. Following an autopsy, the body was buried at the Tangail central graveyard the next day. A murder case was filed with Madhupur Police Station the same day.

Seeing the news in the media, Rupa's family members went to Madhupur Police Station on August 28 and identified her from photographs.

The next day, law enforcers picked up five employees of the bus at Madhupur. The arrestees during interrogation admitted their involvement in the crime.

All the convicts -- a driver, a supervisor and three bus helpers who were in jail -- were present in the court when the verdict was delivered by Abul Mansur Miah, acting judge of Tangail Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal.

The court also gave directions to concerned authorities to seize the bus in which the incident occurred and hand over its ownership to Rupa’s family after changing the name of the vehicle.

The Senior Judicial Magistrate's Court in Tangail on August 29 and 30 recorded confessional statements of the arrestees and sent them to jail.

Following a court order, police on August 31 exhumed Rupa's body.