RU student Sifat murder case: SC grants bail to spouse Asif

The Appellate Division of Supreme Court today granted bail to Mohammad Asif, who was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment by a tribunal in a case filed over the death of his wife and Rajshahi University student Wahida Sifat in 2015.

The apex court also allowed Mohammad Asif to move an appeal before this court challenging the High Court verdict that scrapped the tribunal's judgment and ordered it (tribunal) to hold retrial of the case.

A four-member bench of the division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order following a leave to appeal petition filed by the convict challenging the HC verdict.

There is no legal bar for Asif to get released from jail following the SC order, his lawyer Md Munsurul Hoque Chowdhury told The Daily Star.

He said the apex court passed the order on the ground that there is no eye witness of the incident of Wahida Sifat's death and two kinds of post mortem reports were submitted to the trial court in connection with the death.

The court will take a final decision in the case after hearing the appeal, the lawyer said.

Wahida Sifat was found dead at her in-laws' house in Mahishbathan area of Rajshahi city on March 29, 2015.

Later, a murder case was filed accusing her husband Asif and his parents. The case was later handed over to the Speedy Trial Tribunal, which sentenced Asif to 10 years' imprisonment for "provoking Sifat to commit suicide" and acquitted three others accused in the case.