Tangail, Feb. 12: Four persons have been awarded the death penalty and another given seven years' rigorous imprisonment in the sensational Rupa murder and rape case. The first additional district and sessions judge, Abul Mansur Miah, delivered the verdict yesterday. Incidentally, Miah is also the acting Judge of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal in Tangail. Rupa, 23, was gang-raped in a running bus and killed on August 25 last year. She was on her way to a relative’s house in Mymensingh from Bogra after writing the teachers’ registration exam.

Those sentenced to walk the gallows are Habib, driver of that bus, and Shameem, Zahangir and Akram, helpers of that bus. The bus supervisor, Safar Ali Gendhu, was sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Tk. 1 lakh. The court ordered that the fine money be given to Rupa’s family.

The five accused had been arrested on August 29. They were produced in the chief judicial magistrate’s court in Tangail, where they recorded their confessional statement before the court. They had admitted to gang-raping the girl and killing her.

The verdict was delivered in the presence of the accused at 11.13 am. The case was disposed of within 165 days of the gruesome incident. The victim’s Mother and brother welcomed the verdict.