The High Court has acquitted all the accused including BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, who was sentenced to life imprisonment and former state minister for home affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar, who was sentenced to death, in the August 21 grenade attack case. The High Court also observed that the verdict given by the trial court earlier was illegal.A High Court bench comprising Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain announced the verdict on Sunday (December 1), quashing the verdict of the trial court.In observing 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, 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.
বিজ্ঞাপন
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.
Earlier, the verdict in the grenade attack case began to be announced on August 21 at around 11 am.
On October 23, the appeal filed by the accused against the death reference and trial court verdict in this sensational murder case was sent by the Chief Justice's office to a bench headed by Justice AKM Asaduzzaman of the High Court for hearing. Then, on October 31, this bench of the High Court began hearing the case. On November 21, the hearing on the death reference and appeal in the case ended in the High Court.
Then, the case was kept pending for verdict (CAV) without setting a specific date for the announcement of the verdict.
In this case, the state has filed a petition to uphold the verdict of the speedy trial tribunal. On the other hand, the lawyers of the accused have filed a petition to quash the verdict of the accused and acquit them.
On August 21, 2004, a grenade attack was carried out at the rally of the 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 Explosive Substances Acts in connection with the attack.
The trial court delivered its verdict in both cases in 2018. In the verdict, 19 people, including former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar, were sentenced to death. In addition, the court sentenced 19 people, including BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, to life imprisonment and 11 others to varying terms of imprisonment and fines.
This was registered as a death reference case in the High Court in 2018 to approve the death penalty. On the other hand, the convicts in prison filed separate jail appeals and regular appeals in the two cases through the prison authorities.