The HC Death Reference Bench on Shazneen murder case in its judgement said the prosecution proved beyond doubt the charges against the five convicts for the gruesome killing of Shazneen, a class IX student at Scholastica School in the capital, eight years ago.

The five are Shahidul Islam alias Shahid, a domestic help at the Gulshan residence of Shazneen's family, Syed Sajjad Mainuddin Hasan alias Azad, a contractor for renovation of their house, Badal, his assistant and two maids, Estema Khatun Minu and Parvin.

The bench comprising Justice Ali Asgar Khan and Emdadul Haque found that mason Shaniram Mandal was not involved either in the conspiracy or rape or murder of Shazneen. He just supplied a chisel to the killers, it said and acquitted him.

The convicts will get 30 days for filing appeal with the Supreme Court (SC) against the HC judgement.

The HC ended its three-day delivery of judgement at 3:25pm yesterday on the appeal of the six persons against the lower court verdict.

Apart from the relatives of the convicts, a number of lawyers thronged the court of the death reference bench at the annex building of the Supreme Court as they were eager to hear the judgement of this sensational case.

Hasan masterminded the conspiracy of raping and killing of Shazneen in a bid to stop her from disclosing to her family the incident of his grabbing her on April 1, 1998, and got his plan executed by his accomplices 22 days later, the court observed.

Counsels and relatives of the convicts rejected the judgement and said they would appeal against it with the Supreme Court.

The prosecution and Shazneen's family expressed their satisfaction, saying the judgement rightly upheld the lower court order, which proves the five were truly involved in the crime.

The state counsels however refrained from taking any immediate decision about appealing against the acquittal of Shaniram and said they would decide it after a couple of days.

Fifteen-year-old Shazneen, the youngest daughter of leading businessman Latifur Rahman, was raped and killed at their Gulshan residence sometime between 8:00 pm and 10:15pm on April 23, 1998, the day a party was hosted by Rahman. Her body bore 25 marks of injury and there were bruises on her private parts.

After the incident that remained the talk of the country for several weeks, Shahid was arrested and he revealed that at the instigation of Hasan, he raped Shazneen with the help of Humayun, Shaniram, Badal, Minu and Parvin. But during the trial, he confessed to have killed Shazneen but denied raping her.

Humayun, a guard at Rahman's house who died later in custody, Minu and Parvin gave confessional statements before magistrates at different dates.

While passing the judgment on September 2, 2003, five years, four months and 10 days after the brutal killing, Kazi Rahamat Ullah, judge of the Second Special Tribunal for Prevention of Women and Children Repression, Dhaka, said that Shahid raped Shazneen not only out of lust but also out of greed for financial benefits and on Hasan's instructions. Hasan instigated him and four others to rape and kill her, he added.

Saying that the killing went beyond the realm of beliefs, the court ordered hanging all the six accused until death.

The convicts later appealed to the HC against the lower court verdict.

The death reference bench began hearing the submission of the defence and prosecution on March 30 this year after preparation of the paper-book of the case.

Presenting statements of the prosecution witnesses (PWs), documents of the case and different references of the higher court, the prosecution appealed to the bench to uphold the lower court judgement of death sentence for all the six.

But counsel for the accused, presenting their arguments, appealed for acquitting their clients.

After a 31-workday hearing that ended on June 27, the bench fixed July 4 for delivering its verdict. But it could not do so due to hartal on that day.

Starting delivery of its judgement on July 5, the bench analysed the first information report (FIR) filed under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act on September 4, 1998 and statements of PWs Assistant Superintendent of Police (Criminal Investigation Department) Mojibur Rahman, the complainant and investigation officer of the case, Shazneen's father Latifur Rahman and elder sister Simeen Hossain.

On the second day of delivery of the verdict on July 6, the court scrutinised the statements of 15 other PWs including Shazneen's sister Shehzi and brother-in-law Arshadul Haq, her uncle Atiqur Rahman , Shamsul Haq, the investigation officer of the case filed for Shazneen murder, and domestic helps Sufia and Moslem who had given significant information about the heinous murder.

Resuming delivery of the verdict yesterday, the bench analysed the statements of Fakhruzzaman, head of law section at Transcom Group, Metropolitan Magistrate Maksudur Rahman Patwari, recording officer Enamul Haq and Shahidur Rahman, and the lower court judgement before passing its judgement.

The death reference bench took into confidence the confessional statements of Shahid, Parvin and Minu and statements of the witnesses for reaching the conclusion.

On whether the state will appeal against Shaniram's acquittal, Deputy Attorney General ABM Waliur Rahman Khan, who moved for the prosecution, told The Daily Star, "We'll take the decision after discussion with additional attorney general 2/3 days later."

Assistant Attorney General Zinat Akhtar Nazli Begum and Mohammad Nazmul Haq were also present for the state while advocates Anisul Haque, Khalilur Rahman, Mosharraf Hossain Kajal and Khondoker Mahbub Hossain for the defence.

Family hails verdict Shazneen's family and the prosecution yesterday hailed the High Court judgement upholding the death sentence of five of the six convicted by a lower court.

Shazneen murder case, long legal battle It took two years, 10 months and eight days to wrap up the sensational Shazneen murder case at the death reference bench.