STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Never in its 37-year history, the Cox’s Bazar court has held such a speedy trial that ended with death sentences, according to the public prosecutor.

From the date of the incident till the date of the verdict over the murder of Major (retired) Sinha Md Rashed Khan, it took 33 working days over a period of seventeen months.

To add to this, this timely delivery of justice happened in a case challenging a “gunfight” death, the first of its kind, making it even more noteworthy.

Farid Uddin, the public prosecutor, said the case documents were being sent to the High Court for the approval of the verdict.

The plaintiff’s lawyer Mohammed Jahangir told the newspaper, “The hearing on death references will be held within seven days upon receiving the documents from Cox’s Bazar court. The lawyers of the convicts can participate in the hearing if they want.

“The convicts, who were awarded death penalty, will have to file an appeal with the higher court within seven days whereas the life term awardees have to file an appeal with the higher court within the next 60 days.”

The court handed death sentence to suspended police officials Pradeep Kumar Das and Liaqat Ali for the murder of Sinha at an APBn checkpost in Cox’s Bazar’s Teknaf upazila on July 31, 2020.