The verdict in the rape and murder case of eight-year-old Ramisa in Pallabi, Dhaka has been announced. The court has sentenced the main accused in the case, Sohel Rana, and his wife, Swapna, to death.

Judge Masrur Salekin of the Dhaka Metropolitan Child Violence Prevention Tribunal announced this historic verdict on Sunday.

In his observation, the court said that evidence of rape and injuries at various places was found before the murder. In addition, since there was no application to withdraw the confession after giving it, it is understood that Sohel voluntarily confessed to the crime. His wife Swapna helped her husband escape.

The main accused in the case, Sohel Rana and his wife, Swapna Akhter, were produced in the court under tight security from the jail this morning.

Earlier, on Thursday, the arguments of both sides were concluded in the presence of the accused in the court of Tribunal Judge Masrur Salekin. After that, the judge set today to announce the verdict. The bench assistant of the concerned court, Pankaj Peter Gomez, confirmed the verdict.

According to court sources, the main accused Sohel Rana and his wife Swapna Akhter were brought to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge‍‍`s Court‍‍`s jail at 8:49 am today. Then, at around 11 am, the verdict began to be read out in the presence of the two accused and lawyers from both sides.

The trial of the case was completed at an unprecedented speed just 19 days after the rape and brutal murder of child Ramisa. The hearing of the case and the taking of testimony were completed in the fastest possible time by canceling the Eid holidays.

After filing the case on the night of May 19, the investigation officer and SI of Pallabi Police Station Ahiduzzaman submitted the charge sheet to the court on May 24, just five days after the case was filed on the night of May 19. The court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md. Ashraful Haque accepted the charge sheet on the same day and ordered the case to be sent to the tribunal. The tribunal judge also took this into consideration on the same day.

Then, on June 1, the tribunal framed charges against the two accused. The next day, on June 2, 16 witnesses, including the plaintiff in the case, appeared in court and testified. The court completed all the testimony and cross-examination in just one day. On June 3, in the defense hearing, the main accused Sohel Rana admitted his guilt and apologized, but his wife Swapna Akhter claimed innocence. After the arguments of both sides concluded on June 4, the court fixed today for the verdict.

According to the case details, the victim Ramisa Akhter was a second-grade student of Popular Model High School. On May 19, when she left her house in the morning, the accused Swapna Akhter took her to their flat by trickery. Unable to find Ramisa, her parents saw her daughter‍‍`s shoes in front of the flat. After receiving no response from inside, they broke open the door and entered the house and recovered Ramisa‍‍`s headless body on the bedroom floor and her head in a bucket.

When Swapna Akhter was arrested from the scene, she said that her husband Sohel Rana had locked Ramisa in the bathroom and then forcibly raped her and slit her throat. Ramisa‍‍`s father Abdul Hannan Molla filed a case with Pallabi Police Station in this incident, and the police later arrested the main accused Sohel Rana from Narayanganj. After his arrest, Sohel Rana confessed his guilt in court and gave a statement.