Ramisa murder trial dossier reaches SC

The death reference and the full verdict documents for the approval of the death penalty of two convicts in the case of rape and murder of eight-year-old Ramisa Akter in Pallabi of the capital's Mirpur area have reached the Supreme Court.

According to legal experts, a death reference is a required judicial process in which the High Court must review and confirm a lower court's death sentence before the execution can legally proceed.

Pankoj Peter Gomes, the bench assistant of the Children Violence Suppression Tribunal in Dhaka metropolitan, confirmed that a death reference, a 69-page judgment, and all other relevant case documents were forwarded to the Supreme Court registrar general's office on Tuesday afternoon.

A special tribunal in Dhaka sentenced both Sohel Rana and his wife Swapna Khatun to death in quick-trial judgment on the rape and murder that sparked countrywide public outrage and prompted the government to pledge swift justice.

Under Section 9(2) of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, the court awarded the maximum punishment-death penalty-to the convicts.

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