The documents case and verdicts of Rajon and Rakib murders, that awarded death sentences to six killers, have reached the High Court for death reference hearing.
Officials of respective Sylhet and Khulna courts brought the papers to the HC yesterday afternoon and the HC’s death reference section received the documents.
Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha will assign a bench to hear on the references, said Supreme Court Additional Registrar Sabbir Foez.
The case documents will be finalised and the paper-books will be prepared before the hearing, he said.
On Sunday, the Sylhet Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court sentenced four people including prime accused Quamrul Islam to death for beating Rajon to death.
The same day, the Khulna Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court handed down death penalty to two people for killing Rakib by pumping air through his rectum. The two convicts are Md Sharif, owner of the motor workshop where the boy was tortured, and Md Mintu Khan, his distant uncle.
According to section 374 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC), when a sessions court passes a death sentence, the proceedings must be submitted to the High Court and the sentence will not be executed unless HC confirms it.
For this, all case and verdict related documents have to be sent to the HC for what is known as “death reference hearing.” This has to be done because sessions courts do not have the jurisdiction to execute death sentences.
Convicts usually get seven days to file an appeal with the HC after the delivery of verdict by a lower court. The case documents come into use when the HC holds hearing on the convict’s appeal.
Once the HC hears on an appeal and upholds a verdict, the case documents are sent back to the lower court, who can then only issue a death warrant for the execution of a criminal.
Any such convict is also entitled to file an appeal with the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division against the HC verdict.
The Sylhet court delivered the verdict in the Rajon murder case exactly four months after the boy had been killed. In the Rakib murder case, the verdict came in just a little over three months. Both these cases are now seen as rare in Bangladesh judiciary’s history because of the speed at which the trials have been completed.
