A Dhaka court on Wednesday sentenced a former police deputy inspector general and his wife to life for illegally keeping seven children in their custody for trafficking.
Judge Mohammad Arifur Rahman of the Fourth Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal handed down the guilty verdict against Anisur Rahman and his wife 'Anowara'.
Wednesday's verdict came six years after the incident came to light. The judgement is related to seven children although according to reports the couple had 14 children in their custody.
The court also fined the couple Tk 500,000 each. The convicts will have to serve another year in jail if they fail to pay the fine.
Defence lawyer Kazi Mohammad Sazawar Hossain said he would appeal the verdict.
Anowara was present in the court when the judgement was delivered on Wednesday but her husband has jumped bail.
Media reports in May 2006 said that Anowara claimed to be the mother of seven children of similar age. The incident had created a public sensation that time. Allegations had it that the couple kept these children for trafficking.
The couple claimed the 14 children that used to live in their home were their own.
According to media reports, Anisur's wife had undergone permanent birth control measures five years back. If the birth certificate information was true then Anowara had given birth to three of the children within an eight month period.
Advocate Elena Khan, then executive director of Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights (BSEHR), filed a general diary with Badda Police Station against the couple. Later on Feb 6, 2007, the court accepted the complaint as a case as media and rights activists continued to press for it.
According to case details, seven of the 14 children of the couple were very young. Discrepancy surfaced as their information varied from time to time and it emerged that the children were not theirs.
The couple's past deeds made it clear that they illegally collected these children from various hospitals, clinics or from the guardians for trafficking.
On Nov 10, 2006 investigation officer of the case, detective Humayun Kabir submitted the final report to the court.
He sought discharge of the accused from the case, saying the incident surfaced merely because of "misinformation". But when the case's plaintiff objected to the report, the court decided to continue with the case.
According to case details, Jannatul Mariam Nazifa, one of the children, died.
Nafiza, Jannatul Nafiza Rahman, Jannatul Tanisa Rahman , Ayman Rahman Anis, Nafes Akan Anis, Anas Akhand Asin and Diyan Rahman currently stay at the Jatiya Mahila Ainjibi Samity's safe home 'Proshanti' at Agargaon.
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The coast guards on Tuesday seized the cargo vessel responsible for the recent Munshiganj ferry capsize that claimed lives of around 150 people.
Bangladesh Coast Guard officials said 'MV City-1' cargo ship was seized around 12pm from the Meghna River at Chandpur Sadar's Rajrajeshwar area.
Assistant sub-inspector of Chandpur Police Station Mohammad Salauddin said eight of the cargo's crewmen were handed over to police.
At least 147 people died when passenger carrier Shariatpur-1 collided with the cargo vessel on the night of Mar 13 and capsized with more than 250 passengers on board.
The committee that investigated the accident held the cargo vessel responsible for the accident. MV City-1 was on its way to Dhaka from Shariatpur on the fateful night.
Commander of Chandpur Station Coast Guard lieutenant Mohammad Zahurul Haque and director of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Emdadul Haque told bdnews24.com that 12 sailors were on board the cargo ship when it was seized.
The vessel had no goods and was on its way to Chittagong from Dhaka, they said.
According to the information given out by the detained crew, one Fazlur Rahman owns the vessel. He stays at Dhaka's Gendaria area, they said.
The detainees are – master Shahidul Islam, 54, pilot Amir Hossain, 42, crew Rafiqul Islam, 35, 'Zafar', 27, 'Shahid', 25, Babul Hossain, 28, 'Niyamat', 19, Sanowar Hossain, 32, 'Yousuf', 19, 'Nuruzzaman', 28, Mobarak Ali, 22 and Monir Hossain, 32.
The High Court has ordered the Inspector General of Police Hassan Mahmood Khandker to hand over responsibility of probing the murders of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi to the Rapid Action Battalion.
The bench of justices A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Jahangir Hossain gave the order on Wednesday after Detective Branch officials admitted that they have failed to make any progress in murder investigation.
Maasranga Television news editor Sagar and ATN Bangla senior reporter Runi were killed on Feb 11 at their rented apartment in the city's West Rajabazar.
A case was filed against unidentified miscreants with the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station over the incident. The DB police have been investigating the case.
After the Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) filed a writ petition on Feb 28 as there had been no visible progress in the investigation, the High Court issued a rule upon the government to explain why it should not be directed to find out the motive of the killing and to arrest the killers.
The court also directed the police to submit the progress report of the investigation into the case before it. Two progress reports were submitted to the office of the deputy attorney general by the DB police and the inspector general of police (IGP) on Mar 21 and Mar 22 respectively.
Deputy attorney general A B M Altaf Hossain placed the report before the court on Tuesday. The court after seeing the report said that no progress was there and summoned deputy commissioner Monirul Islam and investigation officer of the case Rabiul Alam to appear before the court on Wednesday.