Third BDR case at initial stage
The trial of the blast case in connection with 2009 BDR carnage is still in its initial stage, while the murder and mutiny cases have already been disposed of.
Filed under the Explosive Substances Act, the long-drawn-out third case has recently witnessed another setback as the judge felt embarrassed to continue with the case, court sources said.
“It was not possible to take testimony in the blast case due to time constraints. If we had produced witnesses in this case before, it would have taken more time to complete the murder case,” Mosharraf Hossain Kajol, acting chief public prosecutor, told The Daily Star on Monday.
“I shall appeal to the court to fix two or three dates every week for quick disposal of the blast case,” he said.
Seventy-four people, including 57 army officers, were killed in the carnage at BDR Pilkhana headquarters on February 25-26, 2009.
Following the mutiny, 11 BGB special courts convicted 5,926 jawans for mutiny and awarded them jail terms ranging from a month to highest seven years. The courts acquitted 115 jawans from the charges. The mutiny trials, held under BGB's own law, were completed in October 2012.
Besides, a criminal case was filed in this regard on February 28, 2009. After over a 16-month probe, investigators on July 12, 2010, submitted two charge sheets, one for murder and another for illegal possession of arms and explosives.
The two charge sheets later resulted in two cases.
A Dhaka Court indicted 850 people in the murder case and 834 people in the blast case. Most of the accused in both the cases were the same persons.
The trial of the cases started on August 24, 2011.
On November 5 last year, the court in the murder case awarded death penalty to 150 members of the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles, now Border Guard Bangladesh, and two civilians for their role in the massacre.
It also handed down life sentence to 161 people; rigorous imprisonment, ranging from three to 10 years, to another 256 people; and acquitted 277 in the biggest-ever criminal trial in the country's history.
The prosecution produced 654 witnesses in the case. The case is now pending appeals and death reference at the High Court.
In the blast case, the court is still recording testimonies of prosecution witnesses.
The prosecution has cited 1,208 people as witnesses in the case, and testimonies of only 26 witnesses have so far been recorded.
Kajol, acting chief public prosecutor, said they would try to reduce the number of witnesses.
Md Akhtaruzzaman of the Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka, who dealt with both the cases, felt embarrassed to proceed with the blast case, court sources said. But it could not be known why he felt embarrassed.
On February 9 this year, he sent the case to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka for the next course of action.
Akhtaruzzaman, in the verdict in the murder case, expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of the prosecution, saying the court didn't get proper cooperation from the prosecution.
Anisul Huq, now the law minister, was the chief public prosecutor in the cases then.
In this regard, Kajol said, “It is his [judge's] personal opinion. We had been able to prove charges; that's why the court awarded death penalty to 152 accused.”
Meanwhile, Md Jahurul Haque of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka fixed March 3 for recording testimonies of next prosecution witnesses at the makeshift courtroom in the capital's Bakshibazar area.
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