Even when trial courts deliver swift verdicts in sensational cases, their implementation is stalled by protracted delays in the High Court.
This is evident in a high-profile child rape and murder case in Magura, occurring under the interim government, which mirrors a similar recent incident in Pallabi where an eight-year-old was raped and murdered.
Although the trial court ordered death penalty within two and a half months of the incident, the death reference hearing to approve this sentence has not taken place in over a year.
Lawyers point out that if current conditions persist, it may take another eight years just for the full hearing to begin in the High Court, followed by further time for a verdict and the subsequent legal steps before a sentence can be carried out.
These judicial delays have been a subject of discussion for years, yet the process remains hindered by several factors, including an insufficient number of benches in the High Court. Consequently, even when the aggrieved parties eventually receive a judgment, it often loses its significance.
Under this context, eight Supreme Court lawyers recently applied to the chief justice seeking the formation of a special bench to conduct death reference and appeal hearings for child rape and murder cases as quickly as possible.
Lawyer Faizullah Faiz, one of the applicants, told TIMES of Bangladesh that while sensational and brutal incidents can be tried rapidly in subordinate courts, the long durations required for hearings in the High Court Division and the Appellate Division mean there is little practical difference between justice being served and it being denied.
The case in Magura involved an eight-year-old girl who was raped on the night of 5 March last year while visiting her sister’s house. On 8 March, the girl’s mother filed a case naming four individuals, including the primary suspect, Hitu Sheikh.
The child later died at the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka. Police submitted the charge sheet on 13 April, and the trial commenced ten days later following the framing of charges.
The verdict was delivered in just 13 working days, and on 17 May – only two months and ten days after the case was initiated – the Magura Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal sentenced Hitu to death.
Under the law, any death sentence passed by a trial court must be approved by the High Court, a process legally referred to as a death reference.
The case records reached the High Court as a death reference on 21 May of that year, after which the defendant filed an appeal seeking acquittal. Generally, death references, appeals, and jail appeals are heard together.
Currently, the High Court is conducting hearings for death references from 2018, as cases are typically handled chronologically by year. While some cases are occasionally heard ahead of others on a priority basis, such instances are rare.
Appellate Division Public Relations Officer Md Shafiqul Islam confirmed to TIMES that an application for a special bench has been made to the chief justice, though he had no information regarding whether such a bench has been formed.
A death reference hearing is not the final stage of the legal process. Even if the trial court’s verdict is approved, an appeal can be made to the Appellate Division, followed by a review hearing, a mercy petition to the President, and the President’s decision before the execution.
Mohammad Abbas Uddin, lawyer for the death-row convict Hitu Sheikh, told TIMES that while the High Court stayed the financial penalty during the preliminary hearing of appeal, there has been no further progress.
He added that they are waiting for the full hearing in the High Court, which is expected to take time to commence.
Lawyer Faiz noted that the government has demonstrated priority by establishing separate tribunals for women and children, but questioned the utility of this if the High Court does not afford them similar priority.
He added that unless a special bench is constituted, these cases will not be heard early because the cause list dictates that hearings must follow the chronological order of their year and case number.
