Attack On Hasina’s Motorcade: SC clears way to resume trial

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday upheld a High Court verdict that cleared the way for a lower court to resume trial proceedings of a case filed over the attack on motorcade of the then opposition leader and now Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Satkhira in 2002.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain came up with the order after dismissing a petition filed by Rakibur Rahman, an accused in the case, challenging the HC verdict.

On October 8, an HC bench led by Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam cleared the way for the lower court concerned to resume the case's trial proceedings.

Following the petition filed by Rakib, another HC bench on August 23, 2017 stayed the proceedings and issued a rule asking the state why the trial proceedings against Rakib should not be scrapped.

In the petition, Rakib claimed that he was 10 years old when the incident took place in 2002 and therefore, the trial proceedings of the case filed under the Penal Code against him cannot be run.

During hearing on the petition, Rakib's lawyer AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon told the court that the trial proceedings against his client (Rakib) could take place under the Child Act, 2013 as he was a minor at the time of bomb attack.

Meanwhile, Additional Attorney General SM Munir argued that Rakib was 32 years old during the incident as per the FIR. He did not inform the trial court that he was 10 years old during the time and therefore there is no legal bar to run the trial against him.