Ramisa rape, murder case death reference reaches HC

Attorney General Md Ruhul Quddus Kazal confirmed the matter to newsmen at a press briefing held at his office this afternoon.

“The documents have been received at the filing and despatch wing and will be forwarded to the division concerned. One deputy attorney general and one assistant attorney general are waiting there to receive that. I have asked the relevant officials to prepare the paper book as soon as possible,” he said.

The chief state counsel further stated that as soon as the paper book gets prepared, initiative would be taken to hold hearing on the matter from June 14 at the special bench constituted by the chief justice.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Children’s Violence Suppression Tribunal, which pronounced the verdict in the case on June 7, sent the three-page death reference along with the 69-page judgment to the High Court this afternoon, office assistant Shahidul Islam carried the documents, bench official Pankaj Peter Gomez told BSS.

In criminal cases, when a court awards the death penalty, the verdict requires confirmation from the High Court for execution, which is known as a death reference case. In that process, the death reference in the Ramisa murder case reached the concerned wing of the High Court this afternoon from the trial court.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Children's Violence Suppression Tribunal on June 7 convicted Sohel Rana and his wife Swapna Akter and sentenced them to death in child Ramisa rape and murder case, which is among the fastest-disposed major rape-murder cases in the country's judicial history. It also fined Sohel Rana Taka five lakh and Swapna Akter Taka two lakh.

Ramisa, a class-II student of Popular Model High School, was raped and beheaded by her neighbour, Sohel Rana, at his flat in the Millat Camp area of Pallabi on May 19. Her father filed the case the following day, reports BSS.