Seven years have passed since the brutal murder of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) student Abrar Fahad, a killing that shook the country and sparked widespread outrage.
Yet the legal process in the case has not reached its final conclusion.
Abrar was beaten to death at BUET’s Sher-e-Bangla Hall on the night of October 6, 2019.
Police’s Detective Branch completed the investigation within 37 days of the murder and submitted the charge sheet on November 13, 2019.
On December 8, 2021, Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal-1, headed by Judge Abu Zafar Md Kamruzzaman, handed down the verdict, sentencing 20 people to death and five others to life imprisonment.
The High Court subsequently upheld the sentences. However, the case has yet to complete the final stage of the judicial process, as appeals filed by the convicts remain pending before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
Abrar’s killing became one of the most high-profile campus violence cases in the country and triggered widespread protests demanding justice and an end to violence in educational institutions.