Death sentence for killer in Sitakunda child Iramoni murder case

A court has sentenced Babu Sheikh to death for the murder of eight-year-old Jannatul Nesa, popularly known as Ira Moni, whose throat was slit in a remote hilly area of Sitakunda in Chattogram.

The verdict was delivered on Thursday (July 9) by Judge Jannatul Ferdous of the Chattogram Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-4. In addition to the death penalty, the court fined the convict Tk 100,000.

Under Section 302 of the Penal Code, the court awarded Babu Sheikh the death sentence by hanging and imposed a Tk 100,000 fine for murder. He was also sentenced to life imprisonment with rigorous imprisonment and fined another Tk 100,000 under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act. Furthermore, he received 10 years' rigorous imprisonment and a Tk 50,000 fine for attempting to rape the child.

In total, the court handed down the death penalty, life imprisonment with rigorous imprisonment, 10 years' rigorous imprisonment, and fines amounting to Tk 250,000.

Following the verdict, Public Prosecutor (APP) Advocate Sarwar Lovlu expressed satisfaction with the judgment, calling it justice for a brutal and heartbreaking crime. He said the prosecution hopes the verdict will be upheld after the necessary legal process in the High Court and implemented as quickly as possible to deter similar crimes in the future.

The verdict had originally been scheduled for Tuesday (July 7), but was postponed until Thursday because the court had not completed writing the full judgment. The ruling came just four months after the murder and only 10 working days after charges were framed, making it one of the fastest criminal trial verdicts in Bangladesh's judicial history.

According to the case documents and police, Ira Moni was the daughter of Monirul Islam, a battery-powered three-wheeler (tomtom) driver from Masterpara in Chhoto Kumira under Sitakunda upazila. She was a second-grade student at a local primary school. Convict Babu Sheikh, originally from Madhyam Pulupur village in Gobindaganj upazila of Gaibandha district, was their neighbour.

On the morning of March 1, Babu Sheikh allegedly lured Ira Moni out of her home by promising to buy her chocolate and take her on an outing. He then took her by bus to a remote hilly area near the Botanical Garden in Sitakunda, where he attempted to rape her. When the child screamed and threatened to tell others, he slit her throat with a knife and fled, leaving her critically injured.

Later that afternoon, road construction workers in the area saw the severely injured child emerging from the nearby forest with her throat cut. They rescued her and rushed her first to Sitakunda Upazila Health Complex and later to Chattogram Medical College Hospital. Despite treatment, she died in the early hours of March 3 after battling for her life for two days.