The High Court has delivered its verdict on the death reference and appeals in the widely followed murder trial of Feni madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi, significantly altering the sweeping sentences previously handed down by a lower court.
A bench comprising Justice Bisheshwar Debnath and Justice K.M. Rasheduzzaman Raja announced the judgment on Monday. The high-profile review concluded that the death sentences for two individuals would remain intact, while four others would have their penalties commuted to life imprisonment. Ten additional defendants were acquitted of all charges.
Alongside the modified sentences, the High Court directed a strong reprimand at the lower court’s judicial proceedings. Observing that proper legal protocols and individual accountability were compromised when mass capital punishment was ordered, the court stripped the original trial judge, Mamunur Rashid, of his judicial powers and ordered his attachment to the Ministry of Law.
The case stems from a horrific sequence of events that began in March 2019 at the Sonagazi Islamia Fazil Madrasa. Nusrat’s mother lodged a formal complaint accusing the then-principal, S.M. Siraj-ud-Doula, of sexual harassment, prompting his immediate arrest. Investigators later established that a conspiracy was hatched against Nusrat to force a withdrawal of the charges.
On 6 April 2019, while arriving to sit for her Alim examinations, Nusrat was lured to the roof of the madrasa building. Assailants poured kerosene over her and set her alight. She suffered critical burns across her body, receiving initial care at Sonagazi Upazila Health Complex before being transferred to Feni and subsequently to the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Despite intensive medical intervention, she succumbed to her injuries on 10 April 2019.
Her brother, Mahmudul Hasan Noman, filed a murder case two days prior to her passing. Law enforcement concluded investigations swiftly, submitting a charge sheet on 28 May and formally framing charges against the sixteen suspects on 20 June 2019. The lower tribunal concluded its hearings across sixty-one working days, examining eighty-seven witnesses before delivering its original verdict on 24 October 2019, which saw all sixteen accused sentenced to death.
Following the statutory submission of the death reference to the High Court alongside corresponding appeals, the legal review commenced on 28 July 2026. Following seventeen days of hearings, the bench finalized proceedings on 20 August before delivering today’s landmark ruling. Under the updated judgment, the death penalty is confirmed for former principal Siraj-ud-Doula and his accomplice Shahadat Hossain Shamim. Meanwhile, the sentences for Nur Uddin, Saifur Rahman Mohammad Jobayer, Umme Sultana Poppy, and Jabed Hossain Sakhawat have been reduced to life imprisonment.
What are your views on how this high-profile appellate ruling balances accountability and procedural standards in the judiciary?
