Court Correspondent :
Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal of Feni yesterday fixed June 20 for hearing on charge framing in the case filed over the murder of madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi.
The tribunal set the date on Monday after accepting the charges pressed by Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) against 16 accused persons. Judge of the tribunal Mamunur Rashid acquitted five other accused persons whose names were not mentioned in the chargesheet of the case, as the charges were not proved against them. Meanwhile, the court has cancelled the bail petitions of the 16 accused. On the occasion, all the 21 accused were produced in the court.
Earlier, on May 29, the PBI pressed charges against 16 persons including prime accused Siraj-Ud Daula, the principal of Sonagazi Islamia Senior Fazil Madrasa and Awami League leader Ruhul Amin over the killing of Nusrat. The PBI pressed charges dropping the names of five persons, out of the total 21 accused of the case. They submitted an 808-page chargesheet to the court of Magistrate Jakir Hossain. Of the 16 accused of the chargesheet, 12 have already given their confessional statements before the concerned magistrate courts. Ninety-two witnesses have been named in the chargesheet.
The other accused are: Nur Uddin, 20, Shahadat Hossain Shamim, 20, Maksud Alam alias Moksud ALcouncillor, 50, Saifur Rahman Mohammad Jobayer, 21, Jabed Hossain alias Sakhawat Hossain Jaber,19, Hafez Abdul Kader, 25, Afsar Uddin,33, Kamrun Nahar Moni, 19, Umme Sultana Popy alias Tuhin alias Shampa alias Champa,19, Abdur Rahim Sharif, 20, Eftekhar Uddin Rana, 22, Imran Hossain alias Mamun, 22, Mohammad Shamim, 20 and Mohiuddin Shakil,20.
On April 6, Nusrat Jahan Rafi, 18 was set afire at an examination centre of Alim examination allegedly by students loyal to Principal Siraj-Ud Doula of Sonagazi Islamia Senior Fazil Madrasa after he was arrested and subsequently suspended as Rafi had accused him of sexually harassing her.
After fighting for her life for five days, Nusrat succumbed to her injuries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) in the capital on the night of April 10, five days after the heinous incident.
