Death row convict Md Morshed alias Morshed Amartya Islam, sentenced by the High Court Division in the sensational murder case of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) student Abrar Fahad, preferred an appeal before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court challenging the legality and propriety of the judgment.
The statutory appeal was lodged by Advocate Azizur Rahman Dulu on behalf of the condemned prisoner Morshed in the appropriate branch of the apex court on Monday. The appeal was filed in accordance with Article 103 of the Constitution read with relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure setting forth ten grounds for reversal of the conviction and sentence.
According to counsel Dulu, one of the principal contentions in the memorandum of appeal is the absence of any expert witness identifying the appellant at the locus delicti. It has been asserted that the appellant's presence at the scene of occurrence remains unsubstantiated, uncertain and legally dubious.
The proceedings originated from a grievous incident on October 6, 2019, when the body of Abrar Fahad, a second-year student of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at BUET, was recovered from Sher-e-Bangla Hall. Acting on an FIR filed by the deceased's father with Chawkbazar Police Station, a murder case was registered, leading to a police investigation and the submission of a charge sheet on November 13, 2019, implicating 25 BUET students, all affiliated with the university's Chhatra League unit. The charge sheet alleged that Abrar was subjected to brutal torture and ultimately murdered based on fabricated suspicions of his alleged ties with Chhatra Shibir. The trial court took cognizance of the charge sheet and formally framed charges against the accused on September 15, 2020.
The Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 pronounced its landmark verdict on December 8, 2021, awarding capital punishment to 20 accused persons and life imprisonment to five others. The condemned convicts include Mehedi Hasan Russell, Md. Anik Sarkar, Mehedi Hasan Robin, Ifti Mosharraf Sakal, Md. Moniruzzaman Monir, Md. Meftahul Islam Zion, Md. Majedur Rahman Majed, Md. Mujahidur Rahman, Khandaker Tabakkarul Islam Tanvir, Hossain Mohammad Toha, Md. Shamim Billah, ASM Nazmus Sadat, Morshed Amartya Islam, Muntasir Al Jemi, Md. Shamsul Arefin Rafat, Md. Mizanur Rahman, SM Mahmud Setu, Morshed-uz-Zaman Mandal Jisan, Ehteshamul Rabbi Tanim, and Mujtaba Rafid. At the time of the judgment, three of the convicts were absconding.
