The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday set December 1 to pronounce judgement on a plea to review its verdict regarding the tenure of a convict’s life term imprisonment, reports BSS.
“Further hearing is concluded, judgment on December 1,” an Appellate Division full-bench headed by Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order Tuesday.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin, Deputy Attorney General Biswajit Debnath attended the virtual hearing for the state, while senior lawyer Khandaker Mahbub Hossain and advocate Shishir Munir took part in the hearing for the petitioner.
The Appellate Division earlier heard expert opinions from four amicus curiae — senior lawyers AF Hasan Ariff, Rokanuddin Mahmud, Abdur Rezak Khan and incumbent Attorney General AM Amin Uddin — on the issue.
A trial court on October 15, 2003, sentenced Ataur Mridha and Anwar Hossain to death for murdering one Jaman in Savar in 2001. The convicts later filed appeals against their conviction with the High Court and the court on October 30, 2007, upheld the lower court judgement against them.
The convicts later appealed against the High Court judgement and the Appellate Division on February 14, 2017, commuted their death sentence to life imprisonment. The court during the judgement came up with seven observations, including life imprisonment means imprisonment till death.
Convict Ataur Mridha had filed the plea to review the judgement and the apex court on July 11, 2019, kept the matter as CAV (curia advisari vult, a Latin legal term meaning the verdict will be delivered any day).
