Killers behaved like animals: HC
It upholds death for four in Rajon murder case
Upholding the death penalty against four convicts in the sensational Rajon killing case, the High Court yesterday (Tuesday) observed that those who committed the crime had lost their humanity and behaved like animals during the gruesome incident. After he was tortured, Rajon sought water. But the offenders did not provide him with water, which was inhuman and cruel, a High Court (HC) bench, comprising Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim and Justice Md Jahangir Hossain, came up with the observation. The 13-year-old Sheikh Md Samiul Alam Rajon was murdered in Sylhet in 2015.
The four death row convicts are: Qamrul Islam, Zakir Hossain, alias Pavel, Saddique Ahmed, alias Boro Moyna and Taz Uddin, alias Badal.
The HC also upheld the seven-year jail term of three other convicts in the caseMuhith, Ali Haider and Shamim Ahmedand the one-year imprisonment of Dulal and Ayaz.
However, the HC bench commuted the life sentence of Nur Ahmed to six months in jail on consideration that he was not involved in the killing. Nur Ahmed had captured the incident on video and posted it on the social media, which helped identify the killers. It was considered a great piece of evidence of the incident. Hence, the HC commuted his life term sentence to six months.
In its observations, the HC bench said: If anybody is
apprehended by the general public, other than the police or the legal force, for committing a crime, he must immediately be sent to the nearest police station or the police must be informed to arrest him and bring him to book. Taking a sudden decision on a mere idea can never bring appropriate result. In this case, it is claimed by the defence that victim Rajon tried to steal a van and for that some angry people killed him by beating him up. But this has not been proven by the evidence of either party.
When an unusual incident takes place beyond expectation, it is difficult to keep the situation under control, the HC bench said.
We must control the environment of our society having awareness and applying basic law, otherwise society will get a negative message and people will take the law into their own hands, ignoring the appropriate legal process. In such a situation, innocent people may be victimised. Having no fault of any crime committed by perpetrators, they are going to the gallows or going to face other punishments, it noted.
All of us, including the State, must be alert to keep society safe from any kind of untoward incident like Rajons one, the HC observed.
Most of the people of the country do not have knowledge of the basic law due to lack of education. To make the people aware about the law and how to apply it, the state-owned media, electronic and print media organisations, all religious leaders and preachers should come forward to play a significant role. A social movement is also a very important factor in this regard and this awareness about law should be incorporated in the primary education, the court said.
On July 8, 2015, Sheikh Samiul Alam Rajon, son of Sheikh Azizur Rahman of Badeali village in Sadar upazila of Sylhet, was brutally tortured to death over a theft at the Sundar Ali Market in the Kumargaon area of the city.
The killers videographed the incident. The video clip went viral on the social networking site, Facebook, and the video site, YouTube, triggering a widespread outcry.
The Sylhet Metropolitan and Sessions Judges Court handed down the death penalty to four people, including Saudi expatriate Qamrul Islam, for killing Rajon.
The death references in the case were sent to the HC on November 10, 2015. The convicts later filed appeals before the HC challenging the trial court verdict.
On January 30, the High Court started hearing the death references and appeals of the condemned convicts. After concluding its hearing on the death references and appeals, the HC bench on March 12 fixed April 11 for delivering its verdict on the death references and appeals in the Rajon killing case.
