Trafficking in women and children
5 get life, three 15 years
Court Correspondent
Three tribunals yesterday sentenced eight people to different jail terms on charges of trafficking in women and children in separate cases.Of the eight, five were sentenced to life imprisonment while three to 15 years in jail. Judge Mujibul Kamal of the Special Tribunal for Prevention of Women and Children Repression-1 sentenced Juli and her husband Nuru Miah to life imprisonment for abducting a six-year-old girl on July 23 in 2000. In the case filed with Kafrul Police Station, it has been alleged that the couple were caught red-handed on July 23 in 2000 during their attempt to kidnap Jannatul Naima from her house at Ibrahimpur in the city. Victim's mother Roksana Ahsan filed a case the same day. The investigation officer pressed charges against the couple on January 15 in 2001. The same tribunal sentenced a woman to life imprisonment for kidnapping a four-year-old child on February 12 in 2002. The tribunal gave the verdict in presence of the convict Rahima on charge of abducting Sagar from a residence at Malibagh in the city on February 12 in 2002. In another case, Judge Kaniz Akhter Nasrina Khanam of the Special Tribunal for Prevention of Women and Children Repression-4 sentenced Hasina Begum and Shah Alam to life imprisonment for kidnapping two schoolgirls on November 7, 2001. The kidnappers made an attempt to abduct the girls --Tania,10, and Sharmin,11,-- at Kuril in the city. Meanwhile, Judge Shamsul Arefin of the Special Tribunal for Prevention of Women and Children Repression-5 sentenced three people to 15 years' rigorous imprisonment for kidnapping two female garment workers on May 12 in 2000. The convicts are Bilkis Begum, Noor Jahan Begum and Altaf Hossain. All the convicts were tried in absentia. The punishment to the fugitives will be effective from the date of their arrest or surrender, the judge said. In the case filed with Mirpur Police Station, it has been alleged that Bilkis and Noor Jahan, two garment workers in the city, took two of their colleagues -- Happy and Shahana -- to Shylhet and compelled them to prostitution. Later, police rescued Happy and Shahana from Shylhet as the abductors were trying to smuggle them out of the country.
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