The High Court today upheld the trial court verdict that sentenced 20 BUET students to death and life imprisonment to five others in Abrar Fahad murder case.
The bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain delivered the judgement after accepting the death references and dismissing the appeals filed by the convicts of the case.
The HC upheld the trial court judgement as the allegations brought against the convicts were proven, Deputy Attorney Generals Md Jashim Sarker and Nur Muhammad Azami told.
Details of the grounds and observations on which the HC came up with the verdict will be known when its full text is released, they added.
On February 24, the same bench kept the death references (trial court documents for confirmation of death sentences), and the appeals, filed by the convicted accused in the cases, as curia advisari vult (meaning the verdict will be delivered any day), after concluding hearing on those matters.
On October 7, 2019, Abrar, a second-year student of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), was beaten to death by a group of Chhatra League activists in a dormitory.
A Dhaka court on December 8, 2021, sentenced 20 BUET students to death for their direct involvement in the murder.
The court also sentenced five other students to life imprisonment in the case.
The documents of the case reached the HC on January 6, 2022, as death references to examine the lower court’s verdict. The HC bench began the hearing on the case on November 28 last year.
Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman, Deputy Attorney Generals Jasim Sarker, Khandaker Bahar Rumi, Nur Muhammad Azmi and Rasel Ahmed, and Assistant Attorney Generals Abdul Jabbar Jewel, Laboni Akhter, Tanvir Prodhan and Sumaiya Binte Aziz appeared for the state.
On the other hand, lawyers SM Shahjahan, Azizur Rahman Dulu, Masud Hasan Chowdhury and Mohammad Shishir Manir argued for the convicts during hearing on the death references and appeals.
