Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha has assigned a High Court bench for dealing with death references of four sensational cases filed for killing 13-year-old boys Sheikh Md Samiul Alam Rajon and Rakib, police official Mahfuzur Rahman and his wife, and blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider.

The bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain and Justice Md Jahangir Hossain has been asked to dispose of the death references through holding hearing arguments on them on priority basis.

If a lower court sentences any person to death in a case, its judgment is examined by the HC through hearing arguments for confirmation of the death sentence.

The case documents and judgment reaches as death reference to the HC from the lower court in seven days after the latter delivers the verdict.    

Thirteen-year old Sheikh Md Samiul Alam Rajon was beaten to death by a group of brutes in Kumargaon Bus Stand area of Sylhet Sadar on July 8 last year allegedly for trying to steal a rickshaw van.

Tied to a pole, he screamed for help, cried for water and begged for his life. But they laughed and jeered at him till the boy went silent forever.

One of them even filmed the horrendous incident and shared it on social media site Facebook.

The 28-minute video footage went viral and showed prime accused Quamrul Islam, in a black T-shirt and lungi, hitting the boy's feet, joints of legs, shoulders and head with a stick.

The sickening torture video shook the nation to its core and stirred outcries in the social network and the mainstream media.     

On November 8 last year, Sylhet Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court sentenced four people including Quamrul to death for beating Rajon to death. The three other death-row convicts are Zakir Hossain alias Pavel, Saddique Ahmed alias Boro Moyna and Taz Uddin alias Badal.

The same day, Khulna Metropolitan Magistrate Court handed down death penalty to Omar Sharif, and his accomplice and uncle Mintu Khan to death for killing Rakib by pumping air into his rectum.

Earlier on August 3 last year, Sharif, owner of "Sharif Motors", and his uncle Mintu Khan called Rakib, a former employee of Sharif, to his workshop in Tutpara Kabarkhana of Khulna when the boy went to a nearby store to buy some paint.

The duo stripped the boy, inserted a high-pressure air pump nozzle into his rectum and filled the body with air. Rakib's intestines tore apart and lungs burst as air filled the abdomen, which left him dead.

Blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, who was an activist of Shahbagh movement and used to write against Jamaat-Shibir and war criminals on different blogs under the pseudo name of Thaba Baba, was hacked to death near his Mirpur house in the capital on February 15, 2013.

On December 31 last year, a Dhaka court handed down death penalty to two people and different jail terms to six others, including the chief of banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team, for killing Rajib.

On August 16, 2013, the bodies of Mahfuzur Rahman, inspector of Special Branch of Police, and his wife Swapna Rahman were recovered from their Chamelibagh house in the capital.

A Dhaka court on November 12 last year found their daughter Oishee guilty of killing her parents and sentenced her to death.