Tribunal censures IO, prosecution for using unreliable info sources
International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1 yesterday censured the investigation officer and the prosecution in the war crimes case against alleged Kishoreganj Razakar commander and fugitive Syed Md Hasan Ali for having inadequate knowledge and using unrecognised sources for information.
Justice M Enayetur Rahim, leading ICT-1, also questioned whether an accused could be held responsible for his father's crimes and vice versa.
Hearing arguments from the defence and prosecution over the six charges accepted on August 24, the judge also fixed November 1 to decide on whether to indict Hasan for the crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War.
Asked why the prosecution failed to submit documents on cases against Hasan filed with Tarail Police Station in 1972, prosecutor Mohammad Ali said the investigation officer (IO) searched for the documents in Kishoreganj courts but did not find anything.
Showing dissatisfaction, Justice Enayetur said the IO should have looked in the Mymensingh sessions court because Kishoreganj had been a sub-division of Mymensingh district till 1984, when it was turned into a district.
“Your IO does not have any idea about it and they carry out their probe sitting in Dhaka nowadays,” he said.
The tribunal also expressed discontent on finding that the list of victim families of 1971 submitted by the prosecution had been prepared by some people from “Muktijuddho Chetona Bastobayon Mancha” (platform to realise the Liberation War's spirit).
“Who gave them the authority to make this list? Lists made by such 'manchawalas' create chaos in society,” the tribunal added.
During argument over the charge framing, the tribunal asked Ali why they were relying on documents depicting the role played by Hasan's father Syed Musleh Uddin in 1971.
The charges say Musleh was the vice-president of Pakistan Democratic Party for East Pakistan and the chairman of the Peace Committee in the then Kishoreganj sub-division, both of which had opposed the country's independence.
Ali replied that they were trying to establish that the accused inherited the Razakar post from his father.
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