Death sentences commuted for Trisha killers
The Supreme Court yesterday commuted the death sentences of three young men to 14 years of rigorous punishment in the Sadia Sultana Trisha murder case in Gaibandha.
According to the case statement, the three men intercepted Trisha, a student of class IV, in a bid to abduct her while she was returning home from school on July 17, 2002. Frightened Trisha jumped into a pond and drowned.
The three convicts are Mehdi Hassan Modern, Mohammad Shahin and Ariful Islam Asha.
On September 30, 2002, the district and sessions judge of Gaibandha handed down the death sentence to Modern, 19, Shahin, 20, and Asha, 19.
The High Court on May 19, 2004 confirmed their death sentence awarded by the Gaibandha court for harrying to death the 10-year-old schoolgirl.
A seven-member full bench of the Appellate Division of SC headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain yesterday delivered the verdict after allowing in part an appeal jointly filed by the convicts against the HC verdict.
After the SC passed the verdict, Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan, a counsel for the convicts, told The Daily Star that his clients have been in custody after the murder case was filed against them on the same day as her death.
He added that his clients were children when the incident took place and their intention was not to kill Trisha.
Advocate Khondkar Mahbub Hossain appeared for the convicts while Deputy Attorney General Razik Al Jalil stood for the state.
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