The High Court on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of four convicts to life imprisonment in a case over violating a 20-year-old garment worker in Palash upazila of Narsingdi district in 2013. The HC bench of Justice Bhishmadev Chakrabortty and Justice Khandaker Diliruzzaman handed down the judgment after hearing a petition. Also read: Schoolgirl gang raped in Rajshahi; 2 held The convicts are—Ashiqur Rahman, Ilias Mia, Rumin and Robin of Bagpara area in Palash upazila of Narsingdi district. The court also acquitted —Ibrahim and Abdur Rahman- from the charges. Advocates Munsurul Haque Chowdhury, Lutfur Rahman Akond and Akter Rasul stood for the accused while deputy attorney general Harun Rashid and Attorney General Zahid Ahmed Hero represented the state. On May 23, 2013,   the convicts picked up the woman and took her to an abandoned place while she was returning home and violated her in turns on May 23, 2013. Later, a complaint was lodged with Palash Police. Also read: Khulna police make 6 arrests after indigenous woman gangraped at home Police registered an FIR in this connection. On August 25, 2016, Narsingdi Women and Children  Repression Prevention  Tribunal Judge Shamim Ahmed sentenced six people to death in the case. Later, the convicts filed a petition with the High Court challenging the lower court order.

Four people were killed and two injured in a collision between a pickup van and a CNG-run auto-rickshaw in Raipura upazila of Narsingdi early Friday. The deceased were identified as college student Qayyum Mia, 18, Ain Uddin, 35, Monir Hossain, 25, and Abdur Rauf, 62, of the upazila. Read: 3 die in Dhaka road crashes The accident occurred in front of an LPG filling station on Madanganj-Narshingdi-Raipura road in Amirganj around 8am. The auto-rickshaw from Raipura collided head-on with the van coming from the opposite direction, leaving four occupants of the auto-rickshaw dead on the spot and two others injured, said Azizur Rahman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Raipura Police Station. Read: Two killed in Meherpur road crash The injured were rushed to Narsingdi Sadar Hospital. Although the pickup van was seized, the driver managed to escape, the OC added.

Three people were killed and 30 others injured at Bashgari union in Raipura upazila of Narsingdi district, prior to the second phase of the union parishad (UP) polls across the country on Thursday. The deceased were identified as Salauddin, 30, son of Hekim Mia, Jahangir, 26, son of Abdul Haque Mia and Dulala, 45, son of Hazi Siraj of Bashgari village in the upazila. The deceased were supporters of Ashraful Islam, an Awami League-backed candidate for the post of chairman in Bashgari UP. Satyajit Kumar Ghosh, assistant superintendent of police (Raipura circle), said supporters of Ashraful Islam and Ratul Hasan Zakir, an independent candidate, attacked each other in front of Bashgari Union Parishad complex around 6 am, two hours before the beginning of the elections. The two groups fired gunshots and attacked each other with teta (a type of fish spearing), leaving three people dead and 30 others injured, he said. Read: Voting underway for second phase of UP polls The injured were taken to Brahmanbaria and Narsingdi Sadar hospitals. On information, police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control. Additional police have been deployed in the area to avert further trouble. However, voting is underway in Bashgari union parishad. Polling began in 835 of 848 UPs at 8am on Thursday and will continue till 4pm. More than 41,000 candidates, including 3,310 contenders for the post of chairman, are contesting in the countrywide second phase UP election. A total of 81 chairman candidates have already been elected unopposed. Similarly, all contestants -- for chairman and member posts, and reserved seats -- in five UPs were elected uncontested. Some 28,747 candidates are contesting for the member posts and 9,161 women for the reserved seats in the UPs. Read: UP polls creating panic instead of festivity: GM Quader But 203 member candidates and 73 women candidates for reserved seats were elected unopposed in this phase. There are nearly 16.6 million voters -- 8,405,831 men, 8,189,379 women and 16 transgender (Hijra) -- under 8,492 polling stations in these UPs.