The High Court is finally all set to start hearing on the death references and appeals of the convicts in the two cases filed over the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in the capital in 2004.
The higher court fixed Monday (October 31) to begin hearing on the death references and appeals in the August 21 grenade attack cases.
The HC bench of Justice Shahidul Karim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman on Sunday (October 30) set the date.
Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique has recently assigned the HC bench for hearing and disposing of the death references and appeals
in the cases following a petition of Attorney General AM Amin Uddin.
The petition was filed to the chief justice to form a bench for hearing the death references and appeals of the accused in the August 21 grenade attack cases.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin said that they have applied to the CJ for hearing the cases on a priority basis. The two cases, one for murder and another filed under Explosives Substances Act, are very important. The plotters behind the heinous crime had tried to destroy our democratic system through that unprecedented attack, he said.
Although BG Press prepared separate paper books for each accused and sent these to the High Court in 2020, the hearing began over two years after the paper books reached the High Court.
The hearing on death references and appeals in the cases were not held in the last over two years due to Covid-19 situation as the normal functioning of the High Court was suspended during the coronavirus pandemic.
Lawyers said that it will take time even after the hearing begins today as the case is very big. The testimony of many witnesses has been taken. The number of the accused is also large. However, the hearing will be held on a priority basis, said the attorney general.
On August in 2004, the gruesome grenade attack was carried out at a rally of the-then Leader of the Opposition and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina in front of the Awami League’s central office on Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital.
At least 24 people, including the-then Mohila Awami League president and late President Zillur Rahman’s wife Ivy Rahman, were killed and several hundred people were injured. However, Sheikh Hasina narrowly survived the attack.
Two separate cases, one for murder and another under Explosives Substances Act, were filed on August 22 in 2004, and police on June 9 in 2008 filed the charge-sheet. The court on September 29 in 2008 framed charges in the cases.
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police on July 2 in 2011 submitted a supplementary charge-sheet before the court and the court on March 18 in 2012 framed charges afresh after taking the new charg- sheet into cognizance.
On October 10 in 2018, a Dhaka court sentenced to death 19 people, including former state minister for home Lutfuzzaman Babar, and awarded life imprisonment to another 19, including BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, in the murder case filed over that heinous incident.
The court in the judgement also sentenced 11 others to different terms of jail. The judge also made a 12-point observation on the background, motive and consequences of the attack, mainly targeting incumbent Prime Minister and the then-opposition leader Sheikh Hasina.
The death penalty convicts are- Lutfuzzaman Babar, former deputy minister for education Abdus Salam Pintu, Mawlana Tajuddin, former DGFI chief Major General (Retd) Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury, former NSI director general Brigadier General Abdur Rahim, Hanif Paribahan owner Mohammad Hanif, militants Mowlana Sheikh Abdus Salam, Abdul Mazed Bhat, Abdul Malek, Shawkat Osman, Mohibullah, Abu Sayeed, Abul Kalam Azad, Jahangir Alam, Hafez Abu Taher, Hossain Ahammed Tamim, Moin Uddin Sheikh, Rafikul Islam and Md Uzzal.
The convicts who were handed down life imprisonments are- Tarique Rahman, former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s the-then political adviser Haris Chowdhury, former BNP MP Qazi Shah Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad, militants Shahadat Ullah alias Jewel, Abdur Rouf, Sabbir Ahmed, Arif Hasan, Hafez Yahia, Abu Bokor, Ariful Islam, Mohibul Muttakin, Anisul Mursalin, Mohammad Khalil, Jahangir Alam Badar, Mohammad Iqbal, Liton, Shafikur Rahman, Abdul Hai and Ratul Ahmed Babu.
The lower court on November 27 in 2018 sent 37,385-page case documents, including the judgement to the High Court, for further proceedings. The High Court on January 13 in 2019 accepted appeals filed by the convicts in the two cases.
Of the documents, the verdict in the murder case covers 369 pages and that in the explosives case covers 356 pages. Other documents include statements and cross-examination of witnesses of the state and the accused, statements of witnesses given to the investigating officer, arguments, statements of defence, confessions of the accused in court, appearances of the accused and the state in the tribunal and petitions.
