Dhaka: A court here today convicted and sentenced three men to two and a half years in jail in a case filed under the Animal Welfare Act, 2019, over the killing of 20 dogs in the city’s Dhalpur area. The three convicts are Abul Khayer, Apu, and Manik. Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jakir Hossain pronounced the judgment this afternoon.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the court sentenced the convicts to two years’ imprisonment and fined them Taka one thousand each under section 16 (kha) of the Animal Welfare Act, 2019. They were sentenced to another six months’ jail and were fined another Taka one thousand each under section 16 (ka) of the act.
The case documents revealed that the three men killed 20 dogs by beating them with rods, strangling them with dog-catching tongs, and administering lethal injections in the Lichu Bagan area of Dhalpur under Jatrabari Police Station on January 23, 2021. They later carried the bodies away in sacks. The three were identified from video footage.
Maruful Haque, a member of Animal Lovers of Bangladesh, filed the case on January 25, 2021. Police filed the charge-sheet in the case on September 5, 2021, and the court framed charges against the trio on May 21, 2024. Three witnesses testified in the case.