Death sentence in lower court put on hold: High Court strips Judge Mamun of his judicial powers.
The High Court has ordered the removal of the judicial powers of Mamunur Rashid, who was serving as a judge of the Feni Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal at the time, for handing down death sentences indiscriminately in the murder case of madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi in Sonagazi, Feni.
In its judgment, the court said that the trial court’s indiscriminate use of the death penalty had a devastating impact on each of the families involved. Therefore, it ordered that Mamunur Rashid’s judicial powers be withdrawn and that he be attached to the Ministry of Law.
The order was issued on Monday, August 24, by a High Court bench comprising Justice Bhishmadev Chakraborty and Justice K. M. Rasheduzzaman Raja while delivering its verdict in the Nusrat murder case.
Meanwhile, in the widely discussed murder case of madrasa student Nusrat in Feni, the High Court sentenced two accused, including the suspended principal of Sonagazi Islamia Fazil (Degree) Madrasa, Siraj Ud Doula, to death. Ten accused were acquitted, while four others had their death sentences reduced to life imprisonment.
The two convicts sentenced to death are Siraj Ud Doula and Shahadat Hossain Shamim.
The four whose death sentences were reduced to life imprisonment are Umme Sultana Popy alias Tuhin, madrasa student Mohammad Nuruddin, Javed Hossain alias Sakhawat Hossain Javed, and Iftekhar Uddin Rana.
The ten acquitted accused are former Sonagazi upazila Awami League president Ruhul Amin, Mohammad Shamim, lecturer Afsar Uddin, Sonagazi Municipality councillor Maksudul Alam, madrasa teacher Hafez Abdul Kader, Abdur Rahim Sharif, Imran Hossain Mamun, Mohiuddin Shakil, Saifur Rahman Mohammad Zobayer, and Kamrun Nahar Moni.
The verdict in the high-profile case was originally delivered by Mamunur Rashid, then a judge of the lower/trial court, on October 24, 2019. He sentenced all 16 accused, including the suspended principal Siraj-Ud-Doula, to death and fined each of them Tk 100,000.
The case records were subsequently sent to the High Court for confirmation of the death sentences. The accused later filed jail appeals and criminal appeals.
On March 27, 2019, Nusrat’s mother, Shirin Akhter, filed a case against Sonagazi Islamia Fazil Madrasa principal Siraj-Ud-Doula over allegations of sexual harassment of her daughter. Police subsequently arrested the principal.
Following his arrest, several of his associates attempted to create public support for his release from jail. On April 3, the accused killers consulted Siraj in jail. The following day, April 4, they planned Nusrat’s murder at the madrasa dormitory.
On April 6, when Nusrat went to the madrasa to sit for her Alim examination, she was taken to the roof of a cyclone shelter, where an attempt was made to kill her. She was rescued and initially taken to Sonagazi Upazila Health Complex. She was later transferred to Feni General Hospital. As her condition deteriorated, she was transferred to the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Nusrat died while undergoing treatment on April 10, 2019.
Following her death, her brother Mahmudul Hasan Noman filed a murder case.
After the trial court delivered its verdict, the case records and judgment were sent to the relevant High Court division on October 29, 2019, for a death reference. The case was registered as Death Reference No. 140/19.
As a high-profile case, a paper book was prepared on a priority basis for the death reference. The accused also filed separate appeals and jail appeals.