Narayanganj 7-murder appeal: Victims’ families hail HC verdict

Selina Akter Beauty and Md Abul Khayer were leaving the court showing V sign as they were content with the High Court verdict delivered on Tuesday on the appeal in two cases filed over 2014 Narayanganj seven murder case. Selina, wife of slain Nazrul Islam who was a councillor of Narayanganj City Corporation, was seen rigid when speaking to the media, but she said she was happy with the judgement and demanded its quick implementation. “We have trust in the judiciary. The High Court gave due punishment to the barbarous killers. Now, I want quick implementation of the verdict so the culprits cannot get released using ‘lacunas’ in the law,” she said. Echoing her, Shahidul Islam, father-in-law of Nazrul, said: “The criminals have duly been sentenced for their crimes. Now, we want to see the verdict implemented quickly.” Hailing the judgement, Khayer, father of killed Tajul Islam who was an aide of Nazrul, described the woes his family faced after his son was killed. Tajul’s younger brother Saiful Islam Raju said: “After my brother was murdered, I had to quit my studies and started working to support our family, because it had gotten quite difficult for my father to make ends meet.” Families of Chandan Sarkar and his chauffeur Ibrahim and Nazrul’s associate Liton, Swapan and Jahangir also expressed satisfaction with the verdict. Chandan’s son-in-law Bijoy Kumar Sarker said: “Punishment for key players has been unchanged in the High Court judgement, which shows the judiciary is still more powerful than muscle power.” Gazi Tipu, a follower of Nazrul and a Jubo League member in the district, said: “We are happy with the verdict. We would have been even happier had the death sentences of another 11 not been commuted to life imprisonment.” However, lawyers and families of the convicts expressed dissatisfaction with the verdict. Claiming innocence of death row convict Nur Hossain, his brother Nur Uddin said: “My brother did not get justice. The media is responsible for such condition [death penalty] of my brother.” Nur’s counsel SRM Lutfor Rahman Akhond said: “The court pronounced the verdict without taking relevant legal sections and submissions into cognisance.” He said they would appeal against the verdict once the full text of it was released. Fazlul Haque Farid, a counsel for prime convict Tarek Sayeed Mohammad said: “The seven-murder incident took place in two phases. My client was not involved in the incident in any of the phases… We will appeal against the verdict, and we hope we will get justice.” A High Court bench of Justice Bhabani Prasad Singha and Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam upheld death sentences for 15 people in the cases. The court commuted death sentences handed down to another 11 people by a trial court to life imprisonment, while the lower court’s decisions for nine other convicts were unchanged in the verdict.