A tribunal in Sylhet on Tuesday sentenced one accused to death and three others to life imprisonment in the high-profile 2020 gang rape case involving a young girl at a dormitory of Sylhet MC College, with Sylhet Speedy Trial Tribunal Judge Swapan Kumar Sarkar handing down the judgment while acquitting four other co-accused as the defendants were brought before the court in the morning amid tight security.

The condemned convict handed the death penalty is Saifur Rahman, while the three individuals sentenced to life imprisonment are Shah Mahbubur Rahman Rony, Tarekul Islam, and Arjun Lashkar, all of whom were activists of the banned Chhatra League, whereas the four acquitted individuals are Ainuddin alias Ainul, Misbaul Islam alias Rajon, Rabiul, and Mahfuzur Rahman.

According to the prosecution, the harrowing incident unfolded on March 25, 2020, when a 20-year-old victim and her husband visited the Shahparan shrine by private car for a day out, and on their return journey, they stopped their vehicle in front of a shop adjacent to MC College in the Tilagarh area to make a purchase, at which point 5 or 6 young men held the couple hostage, dragged them to the Baluchar area, tied up the husband, and subjected the young girl to gang rape in turns before beating the couple and releasing them after looting all their personal belongings, cash, and the private car.

Following the filing of a case at Shahparan Police Station against eight suspects, law enforcement officers raided the campus dormitory, recovered hidden weapons, and launched a manhunt that resulted in the arrest of all eight suspects within three days as they attempted to go into hiding, after which all the accused gave confessional statements before the court under section 164, the college authorities permanently expelled all implicated individuals, and police officially submitted the chargesheet against them on December 3, 2020.