Mahbub Piyal, Faridpur 

 A tribunal in Faridpur has sentenced eight individuals to imprisonment until natural death for their involvement in a gang-rape incident and the subsequent recording and dissemination of its video on social media.

Judge Shamima Parveen of the Faridpur Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal pronounced the verdict on Monday, also fining each convict Tk 2 lakh following a trial based on witness testimonies, physical evidence, and forensic reports.

According to case details, the incident took place on December 25, 2019, between 2:00 pm and 2:30 pm in the Dhalarmorh area of Pallanjir Char under Faridpur Sadar Police Station. The victim had travelled to the location to meet a young man with whom she had built a relationship through social media. However, after crossing the river, a group of youths forcibly took her to a secluded sandbank amidst catkin bushes (kashbon) and gang-raped her. One of the perpetrators recorded the assault on a mobile phone, and the video was subsequently leaked on social media platforms, sparking widespread national outrage.

Following the event, Detective Branch (DB) Sub-Inspector Farhad Hossain filed a case as the complainant, culminating in the submission of a charge sheet after investigations. During the judicial process, confessions recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, along with various items of physical evidence, were examined.

A crucial element of the prosecution's evidence was a forensic evaluation report submitted by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which verified the authenticity of the video footage and confirmed that it had not been generated or altered using artificial intelligence. Furthermore, DNA testing performed on a garment seized from one of the arrestees matched the forensic samples collected from the scene.

The tribunal convicted all eight accused under Section 9(3) of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, handing down life sentences until natural death alongside the financial penalties.

Expressing satisfaction with the verdict, Public Prosecutor (PP) Golam Rabbani Bhuiyan stated that the decision sends a strong message against violence targeting women and children, while setting a significant precedent for relying on digital and forensic evidence in judicial proceedings.