Even after 11 years have passed since the rape and murder of Chandni Akter Hena (13), a 7th-grade student of Zajira Girls High School and College in Shariatpur’s Zajira upazila in March 2015, the administration has failed to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. This has created silent anger among the local people.

According to case documents, Chandni Akter Hena, daughter of Azgar Khan from Chhoto Mulna village under Zajira upazila of Shariatpur district and a 7th-grade student of Zajira Girls High School and College, left home on March 11, 2015 with her friend Pakhi Akter, a resident of the same village, to go to school. Later, her friend Pakhi returned home, but Chandni never came back. Three days later, Chandni’s body was found in a severely injured condition in an abandoned canal near her house.
Following the incident, Chandni’s father filed a case at Zajira Police Station against unidentified persons.

Three months later, he filed another case in the Shariatpur Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal accusing nine people. The accused were: Pakhi Akter, Milon alias Dulal Madbar, Jewel Dhali, Masud Bepari, Wasim Talukdar, Sohel Dhali, Rajon, Rubel Talukdar, and Tota Bepari.

Later, on June 14, 2017, the police submitted a charge sheet to the court. In the charge sheet, five people—Masud Bepari, Wasim Talukdar, Jewel Dhali, Rubel Talukdar, and Rajon Pathan—were accused, while the main accused Pakhi Akter and Milon alias Dulal Madbar, along with two others, were dropped from the list. At that time, the plaintiff Azgar Khan had planned to file a petition challenging the police report, but he died of a brain stroke on July 29, 2018 before he could do so.

Later, on April 21, 2019, Judge Abdus Salam of the Shariatpur Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal announced the verdict of the case, acquitting all the accused. The verdict mentioned that the teenage girl had been raped and then murdered, but the prosecution failed to prove the charges against the accused.