The execution of two convicts in death row in Jashore Central Jail has created mixed reactions as their appeals against death sentence suddenly appeared on the cause list of the Appellate Division of Supreme Court on Wednesday (November 3), about four years after the verdict on their execution.
The matter created mixed reactions among the lawyers and the families of the victims.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin said that two death-row convicts were hanged after all the trial process, while some lawyers claimed it ‘extra-judicial killing’. Family members of the executed convicts said that the death sentence was not executed properly. Their lawyers would appeal, seeking a judicial inquiry into the execution to find out the truth.
The Jashore Central Jail executed the convicts-- Abdul Mokim, 57, and Golam Rasul Jharu, 64, of Durlobpur village under Alamdanga upazila in Chuadanga in 2017 although their appeals against death sentence are still pending with the Appellate Division.
In his reaction over the issue, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin said that two convicts were executed after completing all the trial process of Monwar murder case in Chuadanga.
He gave the reaction at a press conference at the Supreme Court on Thursday.
The Attorney General said, “I found out that the appeals filed by Mokim and Jharu were jail appeals. Three judges of the apex court dismissed the appeals after holding a hearing. Later, the convicts filed another appeal (regular) that was on the cause list on Wednesday.”
Mokim and Jharu were hanged after the-then Chief Justice SK Sinha, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Mirza Hussain Haider of Appellate Division upheld a High Court judgment on November 15 in 2016.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin said that the lawyer of executed people should take part in the hearing of the two appeals together or should bring the appeals before the court. Since they did not draw the attention of the court, the jail appeals were dismissed in a full-court hearing of the Supreme Court. Then the two persons begged Presidential mercy, which was also dismissed. After the appeals and the mercy petition were rejected, the death sentence was executed in a proper way.
About the appeal on the cause list after the end of the trial and the execution, the Attorney General said, “Analog system is still going on in our country. The court and other institutions are now coming under the digital system. We hope , now such kind of problem won’t arise in future.”
The Jashore jail authorities claimed that the execution of Mokim and Jharu was done after all the procedure. Sagir Miah, deputy inspector general of prisons (Khulna Division), said that all formalities were properly followed before the execution.
Some lawyers alleged that Mokim and Jharu were executed before the disposal of the appeal.
Humayun Kabir, the state-appointed lawyer for the two people, said that he learned only a few days ago that his clients were executed. Their appeals were filed in 2013, it has been eight years since then.
He, however, said that the two families are very poor. Therefore, the family members could not find out the details of the case.
Mokim’s son Moklesur Rahman said that his agricultural day-labourer father and his acquaintance were executed as they failed to afford lawyers to conduct the case. “ the mastermind of the killing, was acquitted from the charge by the High Court and he is now roaming in the area,” he added.
Mokim’s brother-in-law Sofeluddin said that their lawyers would appeal to the Appellate Division seeking a judicial inquiry into the execution of Mokim and Jharu to find out the truth.
Lawyer Humayun Kabir said that they would draw the attention of the Appellate Division to the matter during the hearing of the appeals and would demand compensation for the ‘extra-judicial murder’ of his clients.
Munusur Haque Choudhury, a senior lawyer, termed the execution during pendency of appeals as ‘murder’ and ‘unprecedented’. A convict can file two kinds of appeals-- one through the jail authority and the other one through his lawyer. Both of the appeals are usually heard together, he added.
He said that it should be investigated why the regular appeals could not be heard together and why the jail authorities could not be informed about the two appeals before execution of the two poor people.
UP member Md Manwar Hossain was killed on June 28 in 1994. A Chuadanga court on April 17 in 2008 sentenced five people-- Abul Kalam, Mokim, Jharu, Helaluddin and Amirul-- to death in the case.
The High Court on July 8 in 2013 upheld the death sentence for Mokim and Jharu while Azad and Amirul were acquitted from the charges.
Later, the two convicts appealed against the HC judgement, but the judgment was upheld in the apex court.
