Online Desk : The High Court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence of eight convicts in a case filed for killing schoolgirl Smrity Debnath Sima after rape during a robbery in Laxmipur Sadar upazila in 2012.
Besides, the HC commuted the death penalty of two other convicts to life imprisonment.
An HC bench of Justice Bhabani Prasad Singh and Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah passed the order after hearing the death reference and appeals filed by the convicts.
The eight condemned convicts are Hiron, 24, Manik, 30, Rashed, 25, Sumon, 20, Hedayet Ullah Hedu, 50, Nurnabi, 27, Saddam Hossain alias Rubel, 19, Nure Ala alias Nuru, 22.
Those got their sentence commuted are Anwar Hossain, 23 and Sohel.
Of them, Manik, Saddam, Sumon, Rashedul and Sohel have been on the run.
On September 16, 2014, the Laxmipur court sentenced 10 people to death and fined them Tk 1 lakh each in the murder case.
Session’s Judge Manjurul Bashid handed down the verdict acquitting 15 others as allegations brought against them were not proved.
According to the case prosecution, a gang of robbers, numbering 25-30, swooped on the house of Manik Laxman Debnath at Basudouhita village under Chandraganj union in Sadar upazila of Laxmipur on July 18, 2012 and looted valuables worth Tk 5 lakh after holding the house inmates hostage at gunpoint.
The bandits also strangulated Manik’s daughter Sima, then a Class-VII student of Pratabganj High School, after violating her.
Victim’s grandfather Krishna Das filed a case the following day in this regard.
Police pressed charges against 24 accused on March 25, 2013.
