Aug 23 (V7N) - The High Court is set to pronounce its verdict tomorrow, August 24, on the death reference and appeals in the murder case of madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi .
The verdict will be delivered by the High Court division bench of Justice Bhishmadev Chakrabortty and Justice KM Rasheduzzaman Raja, who fixed the date on August 20 after concluding the hearings . The court began hearing the matter on July 28 .
Background of the Case
Nusrat Jahan Rafi, an 18-year-old Alim examinee at Sonagazi Islamia Fazil Madrasah in Feni, was set on fire on the madrasah premises on April 6, 2019 . She had been molested by the madrasah principal, SM Siraj-ud-Doula, on March 26, 2019, and a case was filed against him the following day by her mother . She died from severe burns at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on April 10, 2019 .
Trial Court Verdict
On October 24, 2019, the Feni Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal sentenced all 16 accused in the case to death and fined them Taka one lakh each . The trial court sent the case records to the High Court on October 29, 2019, for confirmation of the death sentences—a mandatory legal process known as a death reference .
The 16 death-row convicts are: SM Siraj-ud-Doula, Nur Uddin, Shahadat Hossain Shamim, Maksud Alam, Saifur Rahman Md Zubayer, Jabed Hossain, Hafez Abdul Kader, Md Afsar Uddin, Qamrunnahar Moni, Umme Sultana Popi, Abdur Rahim Sharif, Iftekhar Uddin Rana, Imran Hossain, Md Shamim, Ruhul Amin, and Mohiuddin Shakil.
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