After a Dhaka court sentenced former schoolteacher Parimal Joydhar to lifetime imprisonment for raping a student, the victim’s family said they were satisfied with the verdict.
“We are happy with the verdict but it would have been better if the culprit got death sentence for such a heinous offence,” said the victim’s grandfather, who requested that his name not be mentioned in this report.
“The government should ensure proper punishment for culprits in every rape case so that not a single girl can be the subject of such a heinous incident,” he added.
Mentioning that the verdict was the result of protests, the grandfather also thanked students and guardians who demonstrated on the streets following the incident.
“We [the family] also protested even though our social status was damaged,”
he said.
Special Public Prosecutor Forkan Miah told the Dhaka Tribune: “The victim’s father could not be present in the courtroom during the verdict because of his illness, but he has expressed satisfaction with the verdict.”
The father’s name is also not being mentioned here as per the family’s request.
According to the family, the victim, who was 14 years old at the time of the incident, is now a first-year student studying electronic engineering at a Malaysian university.
The victim also expressed her satisfaction with the verdict after she was informed about it over the phone, her family members said.
Judge Saleh Uddin Ahmed of Dhaka Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal 4 yesterday sentenced Parimal Joydhar, a former teacher of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, to rigorous life imprisonment for raping a class-ten student at his private coaching centre in 2011. The tribunal also fined him Tk50,000, in default to suffer six months more rigorous imprisonment.