A Dhaka court on Wednesday sentenced a man to six months in prison for killing a pet cat in the capital’s Mohammadpur area.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Albiruni Mir delivered the verdict against accused Akbar Hossain Shiblu in the afternoon.
The court also fined him Tk10,000. In default of payment, he will have to serve an additional one month in prison.
Plaintiff’s lawyer Zakir Hossain said the accused was absent during the pronouncement of the verdict. The court therefore issued an arrest warrant along with the sentence warrant against him.
Earlier, on February 3, the court heard the arguments of both the prosecution and the defence and initially set February 17 for delivering the verdict. The date was later deferred and rescheduled for Wednesday.
Testimony in the case concluded on December 2, with the court hearing statements from four witnesses.
According to the case documents, Nafisa Noreen Chowdhury filed the case on February 5 last year at the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court on behalf of the organisation People for Animal Welfare. The court recorded the complainant’s statement the same day and directed Mohammadpur Police Station to investigate the allegation and submit a report.
Following the investigation, police submitted a report confirming the allegations against Akbar Hossain Shiblu. Based on the report, the court framed charges against him on July 14 and ordered the trial to begin.
According to the prosecution, the incident occurred on February 1 last year when a pet cat belonging to a resident named Mansur went missing from the ninth floor of Muktijoddha Tower in Mohammadpur.
Later, CCTV footage from the building showed the accused kicking the cat forcefully. The footage also showed him stepping on the animal, causing its death.
An eyewitness informed the complainant about the incident. Based on CCTV footage and witness testimony, the court found that the accused had deliberately and cruelly killed the animal.
Bd-pratidin English/ Jisan
