A Chittagong court yesterday sentenced five people to death in the sensational murder of a student named Himadri Majumder Himu in 2012. Himu, an 18-year-old A-level student of the Summerfield School and College, had been pushed off the roof of a four-storied building in Panchlaish Residential Area on April 27, 2012 by his friends after being mauled by ferocious Doberman hounds they had let loose on him. The condemned men are Shah Selim Tipu and his son Junayed Ahmed Riyad, and three friends of Riyad—Jahidul Islam Shaon, Md Shahadat Hossain Saju and Mahbub Ali Danny. Of them, Junayed Ahmed Riyad and Jahidul Islam Shaon are absconding after getting bail, while Shah Selim Tipu, Mahabub Ali Danny, and Md Shahadat Hossain Saju are behind bars. The judge of the Chittagong Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court No. 4, Nurul Islam, handed down the death penalty in a packed courtroom in the presence of Tipu, Danny, and Saju. “The court sentenced to death five accused as the prosecution was able to prove the charges against them beyond doubt,” said Advocate Anupam Chakrabarty, additional metropolitan public prosecutor (PP).
Probir Majumder, father of the victim, told reporters, “We are satisfied with the verdict. We hope the higher court will uphold it.”
Defence counsel Advocate Kafil Uddin, however, said his clients had been denied justice. “We will appeal against the verdict,” he added.
Himu, who had protested against drug smuggling, had been pushed off the roof of ‘Farhad Mansion’ Road No. 01, House No. 101 in the city’s Panchlaish Residential Area. He was admitted to hospital, but succumbed to his injuries on May 23, 2012, 26 days after the assault. The boy’s maternal uncle Prakash Das had filed a case with Panchlaish Police Station, accusing five people—Shah Selim Tipu and his son Junayed Ahmed Riyad, Jahidul Islam Shaon, Shahadat Hossain and Mahbub Ali Danny.
On September 30, 2012, police filed the charge-sheet in court, indicting the five men. The court issued warrants for the accused on October 18 the same year.
On February 3, 2014, then Chittagong metropolitan sessions judge SM Mujibur Rahman framed charges against the five.
The court began examining witnesses on February 18, 2014. But barely had six witnesses been put through the process that a High Court (HC) bench, comprising Justice Naima Haider and Zafor Ahmed, stayed the case for six months following an appeal by the defence lawyers.
On August 7, 2014 the same HC bench withdrew its stay, allowing the resumption of the trial. The examination of witnesses began again on August 27, 2014. The court finally delivered its verdict yesterday after deferring its pronouncement twice.