5yrs of Blogger Ananta Murder: Wait for justice not over yet
Yesterday was the fifth death anniversary of blogger and science writer Ananta Bijoy Das, who was hacked to death in broad daylight in Sylhet by a group of masked assailants in 2015.
Five years into the murder, family members and friends are still awaiting justice.
Ananta, an advocate for secularism and science, became the third victim in a spate of attacks against free-thinkers by militant groups in 2015, following science writer Avijit Roy and Oyasiqur Rahman.
Ananta's brother Ratneswar Das filed a case with Airport Police Station accusing four unidentified miscreants and mentioned that Ananta was murdered by militants in a planned way. After two years, on May 9 of 2017, CID pressed charges against six persons in a revised charge-sheet.
The accused are Shafiur Rahman Farabi, Mannan Yahya alias Mannan Rahi, Abul Khaer Rashid Ahmed, Abul Hossain alias Abul Hussain, Harunur Rashid, and Faisal Ahmed.
Mannan Rahi and Abul Khaer were university students in Sylhet. Mannan confessed before a court on September 2, 2015 that he along with Khaer and two others hacked Ananta with a machete for his write-ups on "promoting freethinking".
Abul Hossain, Faisal Ahmed and Harunur Rashid are on the run. Mannan died at Dhaka jail on November 2, 2017.
The trial of the case started on May 7 last year at Sylhet Additional Metropolitan Magistrate Court. Later it was transferred to the Special Criminal Tribunal.
March 24 this year was the last day of recording witness testimony, which got deferred. A new date was set on April 22, which was also cancelled due to the countrywide shutdown.
Advocate Emad Ullah Sahidul Islam Sahin, a lawyer for the complainant, said, "So far 11 witnesses' testimony out of 29 has been recorded."
Ananta's brother-in-law Advocate Samar Bijoy Shee Shekhar added, "There has not been that much progress in the case. But we will not give up and continue to wait for justice."
Asked, Debashish Debu, spokesperson of Ganajagaran Mancha in Sylhet, alleged that the state party is not willing to speed up the trial. "So far, no notable improvement in the case has been made."
Ananta was also an organiser of the mancha. Marking the day, Ganajagaran Mancha in Sylhet along with his family, friends and well wishers launched a documentary on his life and works yesterday afternoon.
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