The High Court has canceled the verdict by a lower court in the murder case of Rajshahi University student Wahida Shifat, ordering a conclusion of the trial within three months with the Woman and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal.
The bench of Justice Md Emdadul Haque and Justice Md Akram Hossain Chowdhury issued the order after hearing two appeal petitions filed by the plaintiff and the accused.
The HC also ordered three people who were acquitted in the previous verdict to surrender to the trial court and directed the trial court to grant them bail if they filed bail petitions.
Advocate Sarwar Ahmed and Md Munsur Rahman represented the accused while Deputy Attorney General Gias Uddin accompanied by Assistant Attorney General Md Shaheen Mridha represented the state.
According to the prosecution, Rajshahi University mass communication department student Wahida Shifat married Md Ashif Prisley in 2010. She died at her father in law's house on March 29, 2015.
The postmortem report by Rajshahi Medical College Hospital deemed the death a suicide. On April 2 the same year, Shifat's uncle Mizanur Rahman Khandaker filed a case with Rajpara police station in Rajshahi alleging that her death was the result of demands for TK20 lakh in dowry.
Following a court order, Rangpur Medical College Hospital exhumed Wahida’s body and conducted a second postmortem. The postmortem found signs of injury on the back of her head.
On March 22, 2016, police submitted a charge sheet against Ashif Prisley, his father Advocate Md Ramjan Hossain, his mother Nazmun Nahar, and Dr Zobiada Rahman, who conducted the first post mortem.
On February 27, 2017, a lower court sentenced Ashif to 10 years imprisonment and a Tk10,000 fine. The other accused were acquitted.
