Staff Correspondent:

The death reference documents for Hitu Sheikh, convicted of raping and murdering an 8-year-old child in Magura, have reached the High Court.

On Wednesday, Supreme Court spokesman Shafiqul Islam confirmed that the documents had arrived at the High Court from the trial court.

“The case documents will now be sent from the Supreme Court registrar’s office to the High Court’s death reference section,” he said.

The verdict in the much-discussed case was delivered on May 17.

In the ruling, Hitu was sentenced to death for the child’s rape and subsequent death.

The court also fined him Tk 100,000.

Three other suspects in the case — Hitu’s sons Sojib Sheikh and Ratul Sheikh, and his wife Zaheda Begum — were acquitted.

Magura’s Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal Judge M Zahid delivered the verdict.

The case proceedings of the rape and murder, which sparked widespread criticism across the country, are nearing swift completion.

The verdict in the case was delivered just two months and eleven days after the incident.

The 8-year-old child from Magura’s Sreepur Upazila was raped while visiting her sister’s house on Mar 6.

A week later, she died at Dhaka’s Combined Military Hospital (CMH).

On Apr 13, Magura Sadar Police Station Inspector (Investigation) Md Alauddin, the case’s investigating officer, submitted a chargesheet against the four suspects at the district’s Chief Judicial Magistrates’ Court.