The High Court has commuted death sentences of two convicts to life in prison and fined Tk 50000 each in the sensational Rakib Hawlader murder case.
The bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain and Justice Md Jahangir Hossain commuted the sentences to life imprisonment on Tuesday.
On November 8, 2015, a Khulna court handed down death penalty to prime accused Sharif and his accomplice and uncle Mintu for killing Rakib.
The convicts then filed two separate appeals with the HC challenging their conviction and sentences handed down by the trial court.
On August 3, 2015, Rakib’s former employer Sharif and Mintu stripped the boy naked, inserted a high-pressure air pump nozzle into his rectum and filled the abdomen with air, as a punishment for changing workplace.
Rakib’s intestines tore apart and lungs burst as air filled the abdomen, which left him dead. The killing of the 13-year-old sparked outrage all over the country then.