Father of murdered girl demands systemic change as trial nears conclusion

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A grieving father whose eight-year-old daughter was raped and brutally murdered in Dhaka’s Pallabi area issued a desperate plea for systemic justice on Saturday, demanding that the state take responsibility for the safety of children. Speaking at a roundtable titled “Child Abuse in Bangladesh and Necessary Actions,” organized by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s Legal and Health Support Cell for Oppressed Women and Children, the man lamented that he had been stripped of his identity as a proud father and replaced by the tragic label of a survivor of a victim.

The father’s emotional testimony highlighted the devastating psychological toll of the crime, which occurred on May 19 when his daughter’s dismembered body was discovered in a Pallabi apartment. Since the incident, he noted that his wife has been trapped in a state of severe mental trauma, often unable to comprehend her surroundings or actions, leaving him deeply uncertain about her recovery. He also expressed grave concern for his surviving daughter, noting that the fear permeating their community has reached even the youngest children, some of whom now exhibit signs of extreme anxiety and trauma at age five.

Challenging the audience and the state, the father asked who would be held accountable for the failures that allowed such a tragedy to occur. He urged society and policymakers to establish a protective system that ensures no other parents are forced to endure a lifetime of mourning, effectively becoming “living corpses” due to the loss of their children. He explicitly called for exemplary justice in his daughter’s case to serve as a deterrent against future atrocities.

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The suspect, identified as Sohail, was arrested by authorities in Fatullah, Narayanganj, on the evening of the murder after allegedly attempting to flee through a bathroom window in the apartment where the body was found. Following the filing of a formal case at the Pallabi Police Station, the legal proceedings moved at an accelerated pace. A court is set to deliver its verdict on June 7, just 19 days after the horrific discovery of the crime. Consistent with legal protections for survivors of gender-based and child violence, the names of the victim and her family are being withheld.