The High Court on Monday upheld the death sentence of Hitu Sheikh in the much-discussed case filed over the rape and murder of eight-year-old Asiya in Magura.

A High Court bench comprising Justice Bhishmadev Chakrabortty and Justice KM Rasheduzzaman Raja handed down the verdict.

State-appointed lawyer Hafizur Rahman Khan defended Hitu while Deputy Attorney General Imam Hossain Tarek represented the state.

Asiya rape-murder case: Verdict on Hitu Sheikh’s death reference, appeal today

The HC also acquitted three others- Hitu’s wife Jabeda Begum, 40, and two sons – Sajib Sheikh, 20, and Ratul Sheikh, 25.

A Magura court on May 17, 2025, sentenced Hitu Sheikh, 50, the prime accused in the case and father-in-law of Asiya’s elder sister, to death, while acquitted three others.

The child was raped on March 6, 2025, while visiting her sister's house in Sreepur Upazila of Magura.

She was taken from Magura Sadar Hospital to Faridpur Medical College Hospital and later to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

When her condition deteriorated, she was taken to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) on March 8. The child died there on March 13 while undergoing treatment.

Before that, on March 8, the child's mother filed a case at Magura Sadar Police Station under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act.

The main accused in the case, Hitu, gave a confessional statement under Section 164 in the court on March 15.

Later, after the completion of the investigation, the police filed a charge sheet on April 13.

On April 23, the court framed charges against Hitu under Section 9(2) of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act and against the other three accused under separate sections of the Penal Code, ordering the trial to begin.

After hearing the testimonies of 29 state witnesses in a trial that lasted just a few days, the tribunal announced its verdict in the case on May 17 of that year.