Staff Reporter :
Ayesha Siddika Minni on Tuesday filed appeal petition with the High Court against the lower court verdict that sentenced her and five others to death in the sensational Rifat Sharif murder case in Barguna.
Advocate Makkiya Fatema Islam on behalf of Minni submitted the petition in the concerned section of the High Court.The lawyer said that now they would mention the case in a High Court Bench for early hearing on it and would seek bail for her client.
Meanwhile, the documents of the sensational murder case reached the High Court last Sunday as death reference to examine the trial court verdict that sentenced six accused including Rifat Sharif’s wife Ayesha Siddika Minni to death.
A Barguna Court on September 30 this year handed down death sentence to Ayesha Siddika Minni and five others for killing Rifat Sharif in broad daylight in Barguna town in June last year.
The court also fined the six convicts Tk 50,000 each after it had found them guilty of committing the murder which caused public outcry across the country.
Judge of Barguna District and Sessions Judges Court, Md Asaduzzaman, however, acquitted four other accused as their involvement in the incident was not proved. Trial of 14 other accused is underway at the Barguna Children’s Court.
Apart from Minni, the five other convicts are- Rakibul Hasan Rifat alias Rifat Farazi, 23, Al Kaiyum alias Rabbi Akan, 21, Mohaiminul Islam Sifat, 19, Rezwan Ali Khan Hridoy alias Tik Tok Hridoy, 22, and Md Hasan, 22.
Rifat, 25, an internet service provider, was hacked by some youths, led by prime accused Nayon Bond, in front of Barguna Government College in broad daylight on June 26 last year. Rifat died at Barishal Medical College Hospital later that day.
The following day, the victim’s father filed the murder case with Barguna Sadar Police Station, naming 12 as accused.
Minni, who was seen in the video clip screaming while desperately trying to prevent two men attacking her husband with sharp weapons, was made the first witness in the case.
But after investigation, she was named the seventh accused in the chargesheet and a total of 24 people were named as accused in it.
On September 1 last year, police submitted separate charge sheets to the court, accusing 10 adults and 14 juveniles of the murder. Among them, trial of 14 other accused is underway at a Barguna Court.
Nayon Bond, another important accused of the murder, was killed in a “gunfight” with police on July 2 last year.
