DINAJPUR: Journalists in the district observed the 27th of August as Dinajpur Tragedy and Newspaper Black Day, commemorating a carnage stemming from the raping of a teenager.

Amid a mayhem triggered by the incident, seven protestors were killed and eventually two policemen and their driver executed through their trial for rape and murders.

This day in 1995, police opened fire on mass processions protesting the rape and murder of a 14-year-old housemaid Yeasmin. Seven protesters were killed on the spot. Three bodies were found while four others went missing.

A group of miscreants in plainclothes vandalized and torched newspaper offices, government offices, police camp and Dinajpur Press Club to root out protests.

Public outrage swelled. Police fled the town in the face of public movement. Section 144 was imposed and BDR troops were deployed to quell the unrest in the district.

The then government was compelled to withdraw the deputy commissioner and the police super. The police force of the district was changed as well. The rapist and police involved in the killing were arrested.

The 14-year-old Yasmin Akhter was gang-raped by policemen and later killed at Dosh Mile Road in Dinajpur on the night of September 24, 1995. She was on her way back home at Golapbag in Dinajpur town from Dhaka.

A case under the Women and Child Repression Act was filed against S.I Mainul Islam, Sepoy Abdus Sattar and driver Amritlal Barman. The proceedings of the case started on September 21, 1996 at Dinajpur District and Session Judge`s court. After prayer from the accused, the case was transferred to Rangpur District and Session Judge`s court.

On August 31, 1997, Rangpur session judge Md. Abdul Matin sentenced the accused policemen to death.

On September 1, 2004, seven years after the pronouncement of the verdict, convicts S.I Mainul Islam and Sepoy Abdus Sattar were hanged. Driver Amritlal Barman was hanged on September 28, 2004.

BDST: 1040 HRS, AUG 27, 2010.