The High Court (HC) has commuted the death sentence of two death-row convicts, who got the death sentence for murdering two children in Shibganj upazila in Bogura 18 years ago, into life imprisonment.
The HC bench of Justice Sheikh Md Zakir Hossain and Justice A K M Zahirul Huque pronounced the verdict on Monday (September 19) after holding hearing on the death reference in the trial court’s judgement. Deputy Attorney General Amit Das Gupta represented the state in the court, while state-appointed lawyer Shafiqul Islam appeared for the accused in the court as the convicts were absconding.
According to the case statement, the convicts had planned to kidnap Musa Pramanik’s daughter Rahima Khatun (8) and son Abdur Rahim (6) of Atmul Moghalpara village of Shibganj to collect a ransom of Tk 25,000.
As per their plan, on November 2 in 2004, Mahfuzul took the two children to the Rajnikuri pond of Atmul Field to lure them with fish. When the children went there, the convicts tried to kidnap them. As the children screamed, the convicts strangled them to death. The bodies were then dumped in a paddy field.
As children Rahima and Rahim did not return home, the family members searched for them. Later, a general diary was filed with the Shibganj police station.
Seven days after the incident, decomposed bodies of the two siblings were found in the paddy field on November 9 in that year.
Father of the children Musa Pramanik filed a case with Shibganj police station. After the trial, on February 1 in 2017, the accused Abul Kalam alias Badsha and Md Mahfuzul were sentenced to death and Ataur sentenced to life imprisonment.
Among the convicts, Mahfuzul Haque is the son of Mofiz Uddin Pramanik of Atmul Mughalpara village in Shibganj, Aktar Hossain Ataur is the son of Nur Islam of the same village and Abul Kalam Badsha is the son of Altaf Ali Pramanik of the same area.
Later, the death reference was sent to the High Court for approval of the death sentence. However, the convicts did not appeal as they were absconding.