Woman gets life term for killing child

A court in Gopalganj on Sunday awarded a woman exorcist to jail until her death for killing a child in the name of exorcism at Muksudpur upazila in the district in 2007.

Gopalganj Additional District and Sessions Judge Md Abbas Uddin passed the order in the afternoon.

The convict is Aklima Khatun, a resident of Kanuria village in the upazila. The court also fined her Tk 50,000.

According to the prosecution, Aklima killed a disabled child named Noor Islam, 9, son of late Kasim Uddin of the same village, on March 9 in 2007 dipping him in the Kumar River and hitting his head, saying that he was possessed by a jinn (Evil spirit).

Monirul Islam, assistant sub-inspector of Sindirghat River police outpost, being a plaintiff, filed a case with Muksudpur Police Station accusing Aklima.

Police later submitted a charge-sheet against the woman to the court after investigation.

Assistant public prosecutor advocate Md Shohiduzzaman Khan handled the case for the plaintiff and advocate Abu Taleb Sheikh for the defendant side.