Commuting Death Sentence of Oishee
HC full verdict reveals 5 reasons
Her lawyer says after HC releases full verdict
The High Court yesterday released full text of its verdict in the sensational case over the killing of police officer Mahfuzur Rahman and his wife Swapna Rahman in 2013.
In the full verdict, the HC gave five reasons for commuting the death sentence of Oishee Rahman, daughter of the victims, to life imprisonment.
The 78-page full text of the verdict has been signed by Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim and Justice Md Jahangir Hossain.
On August 16, 2013, the bodies of Mahfuzur -- an inspector of Special Branch of police -- and his wife Swapna were recovered from their Chamelibagh house in the capital.
A Dhaka court on November 12 in 2015 sentenced Oishee to death for killing her parents. She later challenged the verdict at the HC.
With the full text of the verdict released, Oishee can now move an appeal before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) against the HC verdict.
Earlier on June 5, delivering the verdict in the death reference and the appeal filed by Oishee, the HC commuted her death penalty to life imprisonment, considering five “extenuating circumstances” including her mental condition and age at the time of killing her parents.
In the full judgment, the HC said, “Condemned prisoner [Oishee] committed double murder without any apparent motive and was suffering from mental derailment or some sort of mental disorder and also suffering from ovarian cyst and bronchial asthma; Her paternal grandmother and maternal uncle had a history of psychiatric disorders according to exibit-15; She was around 19 [nineteen] year old at the relevant time... She has no such significant history of prior criminal activity [criminal cases] and She had willingly surrendered to the police station soon after two days of the occurrence”.
The HC, however, did not specify how long she would have to serve in jail.
“In the above facts and circumstances of the case, we are of the view that ends of justice will be met if accused Oishee Rahman is sentenced to one of imprisonment for life instead of awarding her sentence to death with a fine of Tk 5,000/- [five thousand]” it said in the full verdict.
Oishee's lawyer Advocate Sujit Chatterjee yesterday told The Daily Star that his client would have to serve in jail for 30 years from the date of her landing in it (since 2013) under the relevant provision of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Oishee would appeal before the Appellate Division to reduce her life imprisonment, he also said.