The witness deposition phase in the trial over the rape and murder of 8-year-old schoolgirl Ramisa Akter in Dhaka's Pallabi has been completed within a single day.
The proceedings were concluded at a Dhaka tribunal handling violence against children.
On Tuesday, Judge Masrur Salekin of the Dhaka Metropolitan Child Violence Suppression Tribunal recorded statements from 16 witnesses and completed their cross-examination.
Court bench assistant Pankaj Peter Gomez confirmed the development and said Wednesday has been set for the suspects to present their defence arguments.
On Monday, the same court framed charges against the two suspects, Sohel Rana and his wife Swapna Khatun, and ordered the start of the trial.
The court heard testimony from the complainant, Ramisa's father Abdul Hannan Molla, her mother Parveen Akter, her elder sister, aunt Mahamuda Akter, uncle Mizanur Rahman Liton, neighbours, and several other witnesses including police officials, a doctor, a magistrate, and the investigation officer.
The suspects were produced before the court earlier in the day.
On May 19, police recovered the body of Ramisa from a flat in Block B of Section 11 in Pallabi.
Investigators said the child was killed in the morning inside a neighbouring flat, after which the prime suspect Sohel allegedly dismembered the body before fleeing.
Police apprehended Swapna from the flat, while Sohel was later detained from Fatullah in Narayanganj the same evening.
He later confessed in court, according to police records.
The victim's father filed a case at Pallabi Police Station on the day of the incident.
The case statement says Ramisa lived with her family in a flat in Section 11 and was a Class-2 student at Popular Model High School.
Sohel and Swapna were sub-tenants in another flat in the same building.
According to the case details, around 9:30am on May 19, Ramisa left home.
The suspects allegedly lured her to their third-floor flat.
During interrogation, Swapna allegedly said Sohel confined Ramisa in the bathroom, raped her and killed her.
The investigation officer, Sub-Inspector Ohiduzzaman of Pallabi Police Station, submitted the chargesheet against the suspects on May 24, after which the case was transferred to the tribunal for trial.
"bdnews24
