Trial of August 21 case in trial court was illegal

  • Staff Correspondent, Barta24.com
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Trial of August 21 case in trial court was illegal

Trial of August 21 case in trial court was illegal

The verdict has said that the trial court's trial in the much-discussed August 21 grenade attack case was illegal.

Lawyer Mohammad Shishir Monir said this after the verdict in the August 21 grenade attack case in the High Court on Sunday (December 1).

বিজ্ঞাপন

On this day, the High Court acquitted all the accused convicted in the August 21 grenade attack case, including BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman and former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar.

In the verdict, the High Court declared the trial court's verdict invalid and nullified based on the supplementary charge sheet in the case. A High Court division bench comprising Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain gave the verdict.

বিজ্ঞাপন

Lawyer Shishir Monir said that 49 people were sentenced in the trial court's verdict. 19 people were sentenced to death, 19 to life term imprisonment and the rest to various terms of imprisonment. The High Court has granted everyone's appeal. The rule has been declared correct. Everyone has been acquitted from the case.

He also said that the trial court's trial has been declared illegal in the verdict. The trial was not based on the law. There is no similarity between the statements of any witness. The verdict has been given based on the witnesses heard. The High Court has granted the appeal, dismissed the death reference and acquitted everyone.

In its observation of the verdict, the High Court said that the witnesses are describing the incident, but no witness has said who threw the grenade. Besides, no investigation officer has mentioned in the charge sheet who supplied the grenade on August 21.

The defendants sentenced to death by the trial court were - Maulana Tajuddin, leader of the militant organization Harkatul Jihad, former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfazzaman Babar and former Director General of NSI Major General (retd.) Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury, Brigadier General (retd.) Abdur Rahim, Sheikh Abdus Salam, BNP leader and former Deputy Minister Abdul Salam Pintu, Abdul Majed Bhat alias Yusuf Bhat, Abdul Malek alias Golam Mostafa alias GM, Maulana Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid, Mohib Ullah alias Mofizur Rahman alias Ovi, Maulana Abu Sayeed alias Dr. Zafar, Abul Kalam Azad alias Bulbul, Jahangir Alam, Hafez Maulana Abu Taher, Hossain Ahmed Tamim, Moin Uddin Sheikh alias Mufti Moin Uddin alias Khwaja alias Abu Jandal alias Masum Billah, Rafiqul Islam alias Sabuj alias Khalid Saifullah alias Shamim alias Rashed, Md. Ujjal alias Ratan and Mohammad Hanif, owner of Hanif Paribahan.

The convicts who were sentenced to life imprisonment were Tarique Rahman, the eldest son of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, Haris Chowdhury (deceased), former political secretary to the BNP chairperson, Shahadat Ullah Jewel, Maulana Abdur Rouf alias Abu Omar alias Abu Humaiya alias Pir Saheb, Maulana Sabbir Ahmed alias Abdul Hannan Sabbir, Abid Hasan Sumon alias Abdur Razzak, Hafez Maulana Yahia, Maulana Abu Bakr alias Hafez Selim Howlader, former commissioner of Ward No. 53 of Dhaka Metropolitan City Ariful Islam Arif, Maulana Mohibul Muttakin, Anisul Mursalin alias Mursalin, Mohammad Khalil, Jahangir Alam Badar, former member of parliament Kazi Shah Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad, Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Mufti Abdul Hai and Ratul Ahmed Babu alias Ratul. Babu.

On August 21, 2004, a grenade attack was carried out at the rally of then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina. In this, 24 people, including party leaders and activists, were killed. Hundreds of leaders and activists, including Sheikh Hasina, were injured. Two cases were filed under the Murder and Explosives Acts in connection with the attack.

In 2018, the trial court gave its verdict in both cases. In the verdict, 19 people, including former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar, were sentenced to death. In addition, the court ordered life imprisonment for 19 people, including BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, and various terms of imprisonment and fines for 11 people.

In 2018, it was registered as a death reference case in the High Court to approve the death penalty. On the other hand, the convicted persons in prison filed separate jail appeals and regular appeals in the two cases through the prison authorities.