A special tribunal in Habiganj has sentenced two young men to three years of rigorous imprisonment for the gang rape of a six-year-old madrasa pupil. The court also ordered each convict to pay a fine of 20,000 taka, taking their youth and minor status into careful consideration during the judicial proceedings.
The verdict was delivered on Wednesday afternoon, 23 September 2026, by Judge Syeda Minhaj Um Munira of the Habiganj Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-3. The convicts were identified as 17-year-old Rajib Mia, son of Elai Mia, and 18-year-old Sheikh Jamal, son of Sheikh Farid Mia. Both defendants reside in Sreematpur village under the Nabiganj Upazila of Habiganj district and were present in the courtroom when the judgement was handed down.
According to the case details, the harrowing incident occurred on the afternoon of 17 August 2025. The young victim was returning home from her local religious school when Sheikh Jamal lured her away under false pretences to his family residence. Inside the premises, both Jamal and Rajib subjected the child to a brutal sexual assault. Following the ordeal, traumatised and severely distressed, the child was rescued by her relatives and rushed to the modern district sadar hospital for urgent medical attention and evaluation.
Disturbed by the brutality of the crime, the victim’s mother lodged a formal First Information Report (FIR) at Nabiganj Police Station the following day, naming the two youths as principal perpetrators. Law enforcement launched a comprehensive investigation under the supervision of local inspectors. Upon concluding the probe, Dulal Mia, the then Inspector of Investigation at Nabiganj Police Station, submitted a formal charge sheet implicating both suspects on 30 March of the current year.
Throughout the judicial trial, the prosecution presented a robust case, securing testimonies from 12 witnesses who corroborated the sequence of events. Public Prosecutor (PP) Kamal Uddin Ahmed Selim confirmed the legal outcome to journalists, noting that while the maximum statutory penalty for the offence carries a ten-year sentence, the court exercised leniency due to the youthful age of the offenders, with one classified as a minor under the law. Human rights advocates continue to monitor such cases closely, stressing the vital importance of expediting child protection trials across the judicial system to deter heinous crimes.
