Rifat murder: Court releases full text of verdict

The full text of the Barguna District and Sessions Judge's Court verdict in the sensational Rifat Sharif murder case was released on Saturday.

Rifat's wife Ayesha Siddiqa Minni was the mastermind behind the brutal murder, the court said in its 429-page verdict.

According to the verdict, evidence was found against the accused Rifat Faraji, Rabbi Akon, Sifat, Tiktok Hridoy, Md Hasan and Minni of murdering Rifat Sharif. They were convicted under Sections 302 and 34 of the Penal Code for premeditated murder.

In the observation, the court said that Minni was given an exemplary punishment so that other girls of her age could not be misled to follow her footsteps and result in such chaos.

The court further said that such act of brutality has surpassed the medieval barbarism.

The court added that all the people accused in the murder case are youths and thanks to modern technology youths from home and abroad have witnessed their violent act.

If these youths are not given exemplary punishment, then there lies a risk that this might provoke other youths of the similar age to repeat such act.

That is why the court has given all the accused exemplary punishments in this case, the court added in the observation.  

Meanwhile, Mohammad Mozammel Hossain Kishore, father of Ayesha Siddika Minni, was the first person to receive a certified copy of the verdict of the much-talked murder case.

As soon as Mozammel received a copy of the verdict, he left Barguna for Dhaka to appeal to the High Court on behalf of his daughter.

Advocate Mahbubul Bari Aslam, Minni's lawyer at the Barguna court confirmed the matter. However, Mahbubul said that he was not aware of what the verdict mentioned.

On September 30, a Barguna court sentenced six accused including Ayesha Siddiqa Minni to death in the sensational Rifat Sharif murder case.

District and Sessions Judge Md Asaduzzaman passed the verdict. The court also acquitted four accused.

The death row convicts are- Ayesha Siddika Minni, Rakibul Hasan alias Rifat Faraji, Al Kaiyum alias Rabbi Akan, Mohaiminul Islam Sifat, Rezwan Ali Khan Hridoy alias Tiktok Hridoy and Md Hasan.

Rifat Sharif was hacked to death in front of Barguna Government College in broad daylight on June 26 last year. His wife Minni was present on the spot when the incident took place.