The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Wednesday acquitted a woman who had spent more than a decade on death row after being convicted of murdering her husband, holding that the case rested solely on a questionable confession and lacked supporting evidence.
A five-judge full bench chaired by Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury also issued an advance release order to be sent to prison authorities for the immediate release of Fatia Mashkura, a mother of three from Sylhet.
The four other judges on the bench were Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam, Justice Md Rezaul Haque, Justice SM Emdadul Hoque and Justice Farah Mahbub.
The apex court delivered the verdict after allowing Mashkura’s appeal challenging the High Court verdict that earlier in 2022 upheld her death sentence for the killing of her husband, a cleric.
The verdict brings an end to an 11-year legal battle and clears the way for Mashkura’s release, according to her lawyer SM Shajahan.
The woman was arrested in 2015 following the murder of her husband, Ibrahim Khalil, a local religious leader.
She was sentenced to death by a Sylhet court in 2016, and the High Court upheld the conviction in 2022.
She remained in a condemned cell throughout the legal process.
On May 18, 2015, police recovered the throat-slit body of Ibrahim Khalil from his bedroom at his residence in Sylhet.
His wife, Fatia Mashkura, was detained for questioning and later made a confessional statement before a magistrate.
The police submitted a charge sheet against her on August 24, 2015. Following the trial, the Sylhet Metropolitan Sessions Judge sentenced her to death on June 6, 2016. The death sentence was later confirmed by the High Court, prompting Mashkura to file an appeal before the Appellate Division. After hearing Mashkura's appeal, the Appellate Division acquitted her of all charges.
Senior lawyer SM Shajahan, who represented Mashkura, later told reporters that the prosecution case depended entirely on her confession and lacked any independent evidence linking her to the crime.
‘There was no eyewitness and no corroborative evidence. The confession was the sole basis of the conviction,’ he told reporters after the verdict.
According to Shajahan, the police brought Mashkura to the crime scene on May 18 and recorded a video of her alleged confession while she was in police custody. The following day, she was produced before a magistrate for the recording of a formal confession.
He argued that recording a confession on video before presenting an accused before a magistrate was unprecedented and appeared intended to influence the subsequent judicial confession.
The defence also highlighted that a female police officer was present when the confession was recorded before the magistrate. Shajahan argued that under established criminal procedure and Supreme Court guidelines, a confession must be made voluntarily and free from police influence. The presence of police personnel during the recording process undermined its evidentiary value.
The defence further argued that the prosecution failed to establish how Mashkura, who suffered from heart disease and had undergone two stent procedures, could have single-handedly committed the crime.
According to case records, Khalil’s hands and legs were tied, he suffered multiple stab wounds, and his throat was slit. The defence maintained that there was no evidence showing how Mashkura alone could have overpowered the physically stronger victim. The inquest report also noted that a sheet of tin on the roof above the room had been removed, raising the possibility of the involvement of another person.
Deputy attorney general Aneek R Hoque, however, pleaded for upholding the woman’s death sentence, arguing that the prosecution could prove the case.
