BDR Carnage Case: Delay in delivery of verdict copy halts final disposal
Neither the defence nor the state could file appeal with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court challenging the High Court verdict in the 2009 BDR carnage case, although HC verdict's full text was released seven months ago.
The defence and state sides of the sensational case could not submit the appeal as they are yet to get the certified copy of the HC judgement from the office concerned of the court.
SC Spokesman Md Saifur Rahman told The Daily Star recently that the copy section has been working to deliver the certified copy.
He, however, could not specifically say when the parties will be provided the copy.
Contacted, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam earlier told this newspaper that the government will appeal to the Appellate Division against parts of the HC verdict that acquitted the accused, and seek due punishment for them.
The AG said he requested the authorities concerned of the HC to deliver the certified copy at a minimum cost as the official cost of a copy is around Tk 1.3 lakh which the convicted accused may not afford.
An HC official concerned, requesting anonymity, told this correspondent that no decision was made to reduce the cost of the certified copy of the HC verdict as the authorities concerned of the Supreme Court and government are involved in this issue.
He could not specifically say how much time will be needed to resolve it.
The HC on January 8 released the 29,059-page-full text of its verdict, that confirmed death penalty for 139 accused and upheld life imprisonment of 185 others for their involvement in the atrocities and massacre at the BDR Pilkhana headquarters in 2009.
The verdict is one of the largest in the world, in terms of accused involved -- 846 and numbers of pages.
"We have applied to the 'copy section' of the High Court for the certified copy of its BDR verdict, after the court [HC] announced the verdict in November 2017. We also communicated with the department after the HC released the full text of the verdict on January 8 this year. But we are yet to get any certified copy of the verdict," Advocate Aminul Islam, a defence lawyer for more than 400 accused of the case, told The Daily Star in the first week of July.
He said the authorities concerned of the HC recently estimated that the cost for a certified copy may be more than Tk 3 lakh.
He said the convicted accused will decide after receiving the certified copy whether they will file appeals individually or collectively.
The defence lawyer said the convicted of the BDR mutiny case, including the 69 accused, who got acquittal, have been suffering in jail for more than 11 years and they don't know how long they will have to suffer as the case has not been finally disposed of by the Appellate Division.
Replying to a question, Advocate Aminul Islam said another case -- filed under the Explosive Substances Act -- in connection with the mutiny at the BDR headquarters in February, 2009 is still pending with a Dhaka court.
The trial proceedings of this explosives case -- in which the 69 accused are involved -- are now at the stage of recording statements from the witnesses, he added.
The trial court is scheduled to record the statements on September 7.
"We will move a bail petition on behalf of the 69 before the trial court on September 7," said the defence lawyer.
"Appeals will have to be filed in 30 days after receipt of the certified copies of the High Court judgement. Later, the Supreme Court may set a date to start hearing. The chief justice may constitute a bench for hearing and disposing of the appeals in this particular case," he said.
The mutiny on February 25-26, 2009 left the nation shocked -- as details of the unthinkable cruelty perpetrated at the Pilkhana headquarters of the paramilitary force emerged.
BDR was later renamed as Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).
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