A Dhaka court has placed Md Mojnu, the prime suspect of the Kurmitola Dhaka University (DU) student rape case, on a seven-day remand.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Sharafuzzaman Ansari passed the order after Detective Branch (DB) of Police Inspector Abu Siddik produced the suspect before the court with a 10-day remand prayer yesterday.
The hearing ended within 5 to 6 minutes after the accused was brought to the court escorted by the law enforcers. Mojnu spoke nothing while standing on the dock, just looked straight towards the wall.
Slim guy Mojnu was seen wearing an alga-coloured jacket and a blue jeans, and at one stage, he sat down on the dock.
When the judge took his seat, Mojnu was told to stand up. Following the order, he stood up and looked at the judge deeply. As soon as the hearing commenced, he was seen trembling.
During the hearing, Dhaka Public Prosecutor (PP) Md Abdullah Abu told the court that Mojnu is a "habitual offender" and the case is "very sensitive".
The 10-day remand is required to dig out further information, and to know if anybody else was with him (during rape).
However, no lawyer stood for the accused, not even he himself told anything and the judge didn’t ask him anything.
The rape incident spread shockwave and triggered demonstration of students and humanitarian organizations across the country.
Earlier on Wednesday, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) apprehended the suspect around 4:50am from the Shewra rail crossing area in Dhaka.
In a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, RAB said the accused, during primary interrogation, admitted being a serial sex offender, and confessed to raping the Dhaka University student.
The rape survivor also identified Mojnu as the culprit, RAB confirmed.
Police officials bring Md Mojnu before court on January 9, 2020 | Rajib Dhar/Dhaka Tribune
“The victim was able to identify him from a photo that was shown to her,” RAB 1 Commanding Officer Lt Col Shafi Ullah Bulbul told Dhaka Tribune.
The RAB official said: "The suspect himself has confessed to his involvement with the crime."
The victim’s missing mobile phone has been recovered from the suspect's possession, he added.
On Sunday evening, the DU student was attacked and raped by an unidentified man by the side of the Airport Road near Kurmitola. She is now undergoing treatment at the One-Stop Crisis Centre in Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
Meanwhile, a Dhaka court, after accepting the first information report on Tuesday, also ordered police to submit the probe report in the rape case by January 28.
Following the incident, DU students blocked Shahbagh intersection for two hours on Monday and gave the authorities a 24-hour ultimatum for arresting those involved in the rape. They continued protests on Tuesday.
