A Dhaka court yesterday set March 9 to pronounce judgement in a case lodged over the rape and subsequent murder of seven-year-old Samia Afrin Saima in the capital’s Wari area last year. Judge Qazi Abdul Hannan of Dhaka 1st Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal set the date as both the prosecution and defence concluded their part of arguments yesterday.

Saima’s father Abdus Salam filed the case under Women and Children Repression Prevention Act with Wari Police Station on July 6, 2019, and police on July 7 managed to arrest alleged killer Harun-ur Rashid from Cumilla. Dhaka 1st Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal framed charges against Harun on January 2, 2020. Saima, nursery-grade student of Silverdale School went missing after going out to play in the afternoon on July 5.

Her body was found on the 8th floor of their under construction building at 8pm, with a rope still wrapped around her neck. It was found later that the little girl was brutally raped by Harun and the killer dragged her lifeless body by tying a rope around her neck and took it to the kitchen of that vacant flat and fled the scene.