Rakib murder: HC commutes two convicts' punishment

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.

An HC bench comprising Justice Jahangir Hossain and Justice M Jahangir Hossain announced the verdict on Tuesday after hearing the death reference and appeals.

On August 3, 2015, Rakib was tortured to death at a motorcycle garage named Sharif motors in Khulna's Tutpara area.

Rakib's former employer Sharif and his accomplice Mintu Khan stripped the boy naked, inserted a high-pressure air pump nozzle into his rectum and filled the body with air. Rakib's intestines tore apart and lungs burst as air filled the abdomen, which left him dead.

The killing incident sparked outrage all over the country then.

Rakib's father Nurul Alam started a case in the following day accusing Sharif , Mintu Khan and Sharif's mother Beauty Begum.

On November 8, 2015,  Khulna Metropolitan Magistrate's Court awarded death penalty to Sharif and his accomplice Mintu for killing Rakib by pumping air into his rectum.

Later, the convicts filed two separate appeals with the HC challenging their conviction and sentences handed down by the trial court.