Dhaka, May 26 (IANS): A court in Bangladesh on Tuesday sentenced a school teacher to life imprisonment for raping a five-year-old student.

Tanjina Ismail, judge of the fifth Women and Child Repression Prevention Tribunal in Dhaka, gave the sentence to 24-year-old Md Minhaz Uddin, a teacher of Holy Crescent School in Shewrapara and also fined him 200,000 taka ($2,570) for the rape on March 11 last year, bdnews24.com reported.

The parents of the child found out about the incident when she was crying in pain on her way home from school. They saw blood on her pants when undressing her.

When asked, the five-year-old said the teacher lured her with a chocolate to a washroom of the Holy Crescent School and College and raped her.

She was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and her father filed a report with Mirpur Model Police Station mentioning Minhaz Uddin as the culprit while his daughter was undergoing treatment.

Statements of nine witnesses were recorded during the trial, said their lawyer Salma Ali, executive director of the Bangladesh Jatiya Mohila Ainjibi Samiti.

State prosecutor Ali Asgar Swapan said the convict was brought to court from prison during the trial and on the day the judgment was read out.

He added that the court has ordered half of the fine to be paid to the family of the victim.