Shazneen murder: Death upheld for Shahidul

Staff Correspondent: The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the death penalty for domestic help Shahidul Islam in the case over rape and murder of Shazneen Tasnim Rahman in her Gulshan house about two decades ago.

Rejecting the review petition filed by Shahidul, the three-member Appellate Division bench headed by the Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed the order on Sunday.

Advocate S K Saha stood for the plaintiff in the court.

Earlier, the Appellate Division upheld the death sentence for Shahidul and acquitted four other accused in the case on August 2 last year.

The acquittals are Syed Sajjad Mainuddin Hasan, a contractor for renovation at Shazneen's house, his assistant Badal, and two maids Estema Khatun Minu and Parvin.

According to the case documents, Shazneen, a class-IX student of Scholastica, was raped and murdered at her Gulshan house on April 23, 1998.

The following day, her father Latifur Rahman filed a murder case with Gulshan Police Station under section 302 of the Penal Code.

On September 4 the same year, the CID filed a case under Women and Children Repression [Prevention] Act for rape and murder.

After investigation, police submitted a charge sheet in the first case to the Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court-1 in Dhaka and another charge sheet in the second case to the Special Tribunal for Prevention of Women and Children Repression.

The courts later framed charges in the cases.

On September 2, 2003, a special tribunal sentenced six of the seven accused to death in the case. One of the accused died in police custody during the probe.

The convicts challenged the   tribunal's verdict before the High Court.

On July 10, 2006, the HC confirmed the death sentence for the five and acquitted one, Shaniram Mandal, as it found that the mason was not involved in the conspiracy or rape or murder of Shazneen.

The five later filed appeals with the SC challenging the HC verdict.


risingbd/Dhaka/Mar 05, 2017/Mehedi/A K Azad