Death Sentence in Panchagarh for Rifat Bin Sajjad over Rape and Murder of Woman He Met on a Train

A court has sentenced a young man, Md Rifat Bin Sajjad (23), to death in a case over raping and murdering a woman he had met on a train, taking her to a secluded place and then leaving her body on a railway line. The Panchagarh Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal delivered the verdict on Monday (2 November).

The accused was present in court when the verdict was announced. The tribunal's Special Public Prosecutor, Khalilur Rahman, confirmed the verdict.

The convict, Rifat Bin Sajjad, is a resident of the Majhgram area of Boda Upazila in Panchagarh. His father's name is Md Aktar Hossain.

According to the case records, a clue to a murder committed about two months earlier came from photos and videos found on Rifat's mobile phone and from interrogation after he was detained with a stolen autorickshaw. On 8 March 2025, local people detained Rifat with the stolen autorickshaw at the Haji Shahar Ali High School field in Atwari Upazila. Police then took him into custody and seized the mobile phone.

The investigation found that on 13 January 2025 Rifat boarded the Dhaka-to-Panchagarh Ekota Intercity train at Dinajpur Railway Station. On the way he became acquainted with the woman. Showing her various inducements, Rifat got her to get down at Kismat Railway Station.

At about 9pm that night they reached the Kismat Railgate area of Atwari Upazila. According to the case description, Rifat raped the woman multiple times in a room of Shapla Kindergarten School and in the garden beside it.

The case description further says that later, at one stage of a dispute over money and a mobile phone, he tied the woman's hands behind her with a scarf and fastened her to a betel nut tree. He then struck her head repeatedly with a brick and killed her. After the murder, Rifat struck various parts of the woman's body with a sharp weapon.

At dawn the next day, 14 January, he dragged the body and left it on the railway line about 200 to 300 yards north of Kismat Railgate. The body was later run over by a train and torn apart.

An unnatural death case was first filed at Dinajpur Railway Police Station over the incident, but the subsequent investigation brought the murder to light.

The tribunal's Special Public Prosecutor Khalilur Rahman said the prosecution had presented the necessary evidence and arguments before the court. Reviewing them, the court sentenced the accused to death. In his words, justice has been established through this verdict.