The High Court has ordered that judicial powers be stripped from Mamunur Rashid, the then-judge of the Feni Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal, over his handling of the widely watched murder case of madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi, in which he had sentenced all the accused to death without individualized consideration.
A High Court bench comprising Justice Bhishmadev Chakraborty and Justice K M Rashiduzzaman Raja delivered the ruling Monday.
In its ruling, the court said the trial court’s blanket approach to imposing death sentences had a devastating effect on every family involved, and ordered that the judge’s judicial powers be withdrawn and that he be attached to the Ministry of Law.
Hearing the death reference, appeals and jail appeals in the case, the High Court upheld the death sentences of two of the accused: Siraj Ud Doula, the then-principal of Sonagazi Islamia Fazil (Degree) Madrasa, and Shahadat Hossain Shamim.
Four defendants had their sentences reduced to life imprisonment: Umme Sultana Popy, Mohammad Nuruddin, Shahadat Hossain Zubed and Iftekhar Hossain Rana.
The court acquitted 10 defendants, named in the case as Mohammad Shamim, Ruhul Amin, Afsar Uddin, Maksud Councilor, Hafez Abdul Kader, Abdur Rahim Sharif, Imran Hossain Mamun, Mohiuddin Shakil and Kamrun Nahar Moni.
The defendants were represented by senior lawyer Monsurul Haque Chowdhury, along with advocates S M Shahjahan, Tajul Islam, Barrister S M Masud Hossain Dolon, and advocates Mohammad Shishir, Abdul Momin and Adnan Yazdani, and Barrister Al Mamun. The state was represented by Attorney General Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kajol and Deputy Attorney General Syed Ejaz Kabir.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report