The High Court today directed the authorities concerned to dispose of a murder case, pending for nearly 32 years, within three months.
A High Court division bench comprising Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Mohammad Mostafizur Rahman passed the order.
Earlier, a report was published in a national newspaper about the case and Supreme Court lawyer Ishrat Hasan presented the matter before court.
Lawyer Ishrat Hasan told BSS that the case will be disposed of within three months and the concerned authority will have to submit a report to the High Court.
The court has also directed to take departmental action against the concerned persons if the case is not disposed of timely.
The case has been pending for 32 years as the autopsy doctor Dr Anwar Hossain did not testify.
Seema Mohammadi, 20, was stabbed to death by a young man named Mohammad Ahmed alias Amin on April 26, 1988, at her house in Jagannath Saha Road of Old Dhaka.
Soon after the incident, Seema’s mother Izhar Mohammadi filed a murder case against the youth with Lalbagh police station. On June 25, 1988, police filed a chargesheet against the fugitive Amin.
The investigation revealed that he committed the murder as he could not marry Seema. A notice was issued in the newspaper on June 22, 1999 to produce the accused before the court.
Even after the charges were framed on April 29, 2001, the trial of the case was repeatedly postponed due to the reluctance of the investigating police officer and the autopsy doctor to testify, said the case.
Despite the issuance of a non-bailable arrest warrant, Anwar Hossain, the then lecturer in the forensic department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, has not appeared in court to testify.
Also, 50 non-bailable arrest warrants have been issued against the doctor.
Advocate Ishrat Hasan said that the plaintiff in the case, also the mother of the victim, has died long ago.
“Justice will be established as the trial of the case is going to be completed… This will further increase people’s confidence in the judiciary,” said Ishrat Hasan.BSS
