No lawyer from the Dhaka Bar Association will represent the accused in the case filed over the rape and murder of eight year old child Ramisa Akter, said General Secretary of the Dhaka Bar Association Md Kalam Khan.

He disclosed the information in a Facebook post on Friday citing that the Dhaka Bar Executive Committee has taken the decision.

In the post, he states, “According to the decision of the Executive Committee of the Dhaka Bar, no learned lawyer of the Dhaka Bar will conduct the case on behalf of the accused in the Ramisa murder case.”

On 19 May, tragedy struck a residential building in the capital’s Pallabi area when Sohel Rana, a neighbour living in the adjacent apartment, lured, assaulted, and murdered Ramisa Akhter, a second-grade student.

Sohel, an alleged drug addict, attempted to dismember the child’s body to conceal the crime by decapitating the victim and severing both arms from the shoulders.

Police apprehended Sohel’s wife Swapna at the scene, and later traced and arrested Sohel Rana from Fatullah Police Station area in Narayanganj district.

The victim’s father, Hannan Mollah, filed a formal case against Sohel and Swapna at the Pallabi Police Station. Sohel also gave a confessional statement at a Dhaka court on 20 May.