Death of Wahida: SC grants bail to husband
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday granted bail to Mohammad Asif, who was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment by a tribunal in a case filed over the death of his wife and Rajshahi University student Wahida Sifat in 2015.
The apex court also allowed Mohammad Asif to move an appeal before this court challenging the High Court verdict that scrapped the tribunal's judgment and ordered it (tribunal) to hold retrial of the case.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order following a leave-to-appeal petition filed by Asif challenging the HC verdict.
There is no legal bar for Asif to get released from jail following the SC order, his lawyer Md Munsurul Hoque Chowdhury told The Daily Star.
He said the apex court passed the order on the grounds that there is no eyewitness of the incident of Wahida Sifat's death, and two kinds of post mortem reports were submitted to the trial court in connection with her death.
The Appellate Division will make final decision in the case after hearing the appeal, the lawyer said.
Deputy Attorney General Bishwajit Debnath represented the state at the hearing .
Wahida Sifat was found dead at her in-laws' house in Mahishbathan area of Rajshahi city on March 29, 2015.
A murder case was filed accusing her husband Asif and his parents. The case was later handed over to the Speedy Trial Tribunal, which began the trial proceedings on November 11, 2016.
The Speedy Trial Tribunal-3 of Dhaka on February 27, 2017 sentenced Asif to 10 years' imprisonment for "provoking Sifat to commit suicide" and acquitted three other accused in the case.
The tribunal acquitted Asif's parents -- Md Hossain Ramjan and Najmun Nahar Nazil -- and Jubaidur Rahman, assistant professor, forensic department of Rajshahi Medical College, saying the charges brought against them were not proved.
Following an appeal filed by Asif and a petition filed by Sifat's uncle Mizanur Rahman Khandker, the HC on September 6 last year scrapped the tribunal's verdict and directed the tribunal concerned to hold a retrial of the case.
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