No trial in 33 months, IO changed six times

College girl Zahida Khatun

Although six Investigation Officers (IO) have been changed, the case is yet to be ready for trial 33 months after the incident, official sources said.

Zahida Khatun, daughter of poor farmer Raihanuddin Joarder of Boroichara village in Sreepur upazila, had appeared at Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination from Dariapur College.

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She secured first division in HSC from Humanities group. But she could not know the result as she was raped and strangled by some local hoodlums on July 5, 2002, a few days after the examination.

Zahida was returning home from her friend's house during daytime. A gang allegedly led by Mamun of Dariapur village dragged her to a jute field. There she was gang-raped and strangled.

RaisUddin, elder brother of the victim, filed a case with Sreepur police station. Sub-Inspector (SI) Motahar Hossain was made the IO of the case.

The local administration at a meeting on August 27, 2002 put the case on the list of ‘sensational’ cases and sent it to DB (Detective Branch) police for investigation.

Inspector Sheikh Zillur Rahman was made IO of the case. Subsequently, SI Ashraful Alam and SI Shahidul Islam of DB were the IOs.

After about eight months' investigation, DB Inspector Shahidul Islam on April 26, 2003 submitted two charge sheets under Section 302/3 of Bangladesh Penal Code and Section 9(4) (kha) of Woman and Child Repression Prevention Act, 2000.

As the plaintiff submitted a naraji petition, the case was transferred to CID (Criminal Investigation Department) of police in July, 2003 for further investigation and submission of a fresh charge sheet.

CID Inspector Nazrul Islam investigated the case from July 2003 to October 2004. But before submission of the fresh charge sheet after 15 months' investigation he was transferred in October last year.

After his transfer, CID Inspector Mohiuddin Ahmed took the case as the second IO in October, 2004 and investigated the case for five months. He was also transferred this month before submission of the fresh charge sheet.