HC acquittal of 11 accused stays
The portion of a High Court verdict that acquitted 11 accused in Ahsanullah Master killing case will remain in force as the Supreme Court yesterday passed “no order” on a government petition seeking a stay on the HC order.
Eight of those acquitted are in jail while the rest have been on the run.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed “no order” since some of those acquitted by the HC have been suffering in jail for nearly 11 years, said Attorney General Mahbubey Alam.
There is now no legal bar to releasing them, he added.
The government will move a leave-to-appeal petition before the Appellate Division upon receiving the full text of the HC verdict. If the SC accepts the petition, it may ask the acquitted people to surrender to the trial court, the attorney general said.
Barrister Moudud Ahmed, a defence lawyer in the case, told reporters that the portion of the HC verdict acquitting 11 accused has been upheld through the SC order.
Gunmen on May 7, 2004 shot and killed Ahsanullah, a freedom fighter and Awami League lawmaker at the time, and Omar Faruq Ratan, a student, in a staccato burst of fire on a rally of Awami Swechchhasebak League in Noagaon near the then lawmaker's house.
The HC on June 15 this year handed down death penalty to six people, including a central Jubo Dal leader, for the killing.
It also commuted the capital punishment of seven others to life imprisonment, upheld life term of two and acquitted 11 of the charges brought against them. It disposed of appeals filed by two others as they died during the trial of the much-talked-about political killing.
The government on June 20 filed a petition with the SC, seeking a stay on the acquittal order of the HC.
Eleven accused, including three of those acquitted by the HC, are now absconding, sources at the attorney general's office said.
Meanwhile, leaders and activists of the ruling Awami League and its front organisations yesterday barricaded the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in Tongi of Gazipur for around one hour, protesting the Supreme Court's “no order”, reports our Gazipur correspondent.
Protesters also staged demonstrations and burnt tyres.
On information, police rushed to the spot and quell the agitation. The traffic situation on the highway became normal around 2:30pm.
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