Home
+
The housewife was gunned down in Dhaka’s Siddheswari 34 years ago over an alleged family feud
Published : 13 Mar 2024, 11:13 AM
A Dhaka court has sentenced two suspects to life in prison and acquitted three others for the murder of housewife Sagira Morshed in the capital's Siddheswari over a family feud in 1989.
Dhaka Special Sessions Judge Mohammad Ali Hossein delivered the verdict in the case on Wednesday.
The two convicts are Anas Mahmud aka Rezwan and Maruf Reza. In addition to the prison sentence, they were fined Tk 50,000 each. An additional six months will be added to their prison sentences if they fail to pay.
The time the two spent in jail will be deducted from their prison sentence, according to Mosharraf Hossain Kajol, one of the lawyers representing the defendants.
Sagira’s brother-in-law Dr Hasan Ali Chowdhury, 71, his wife Sayedatul Mahmuda aka Shaheen, 65, and Montu Mandul aka Mintu were acquitted after the charges against them were not proven.
Anas and Reza were brought to court from jail to hear the verdict. The three other suspects, who were out on bail, were also present. Following the announcement of the verdict, warrants were issued against them and they were taken to prison.
Farooq Ahmed, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said they would petition a higher court to overturn the acquittals of Hasan and Mahmuda.
Both sides completed their arguments in the widely discussed case on Jan 25. The verdict was pushed back twice before the court delivered it on Wednesday.
On Jul 25, 1989, Sagira was fatally shot by a gunman on a motorcycle on Siddheshwari Road as she was picking up her daughter from Viqarunnisa Noon School.
The same day, her husband, Salam Chowdhury, filed a case at the Ramna Police Station against unidentified assailants. After eyewitnesses pointed to Montu and Maruf Reza as participants in the crime, the police took them into custody.
On May 23, 1991, the Dhaka Judge's Court called for further investigations at the state's request as new information about Maruf Reza emerged during testimonies.
Following a revision petition by Maruf challenging the directive, the High Court on Jul 2, 1991, paused further investigations and trial for six months. It also questioned the necessity of additional investigation.
On Aug 27, 1992, the court extended the halt on trial proceedings until a decision was made regarding the previous inquiry.
The prosecution sought to resume the trial after the new investigating officer brought the case to the attention of the Attorney General’s Office.
The court subsequently decided to lift the freeze on the trial proceedings after a hearing.
In June 2019, the bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman dismissed Maruf's application and assigned the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to take over the case.
Upon taking charge, the PBI first reached out to Abdus Salam Chowdhury, Sagira's husband. After numerous efforts, they located the rickshaw driver who had transported Sagira to Siddheshwari.
On Nov 10, 2020, Anas, a brother-in-law of the victim, was arrested in Rampura following the rickshaw driver's identification. His confession led to the arrests of Hasan Ali, his wife Sayedatul Mahmuda Shaheen, and Maruf Reza, who all made confessional statements in court later.
Subsequently, on Dec 2, 2020, Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM Imrul Kayes ordered the reopening of the trial.
