Dead in the dock: War tribunal accepts SP’s apology

A special tribunal today accepted the unconditional apology by the superintendent of police in Mymensingh and relieved him of the further proceedings over the “negligence” of police in communicating timely the death of a fugitive war crimes accused, which led to his indictment after death.

However, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1 did not accept Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Hoque’s explanation he submitted in the morning on cause of delay and negligence found in executing a warrant issued by the tribunal for the arrest of the accused.

Also READ: Dead in The Dock - ICT asks IGP, SP to explain 'negligence'

It ordered the IGP to re-submit his explanation bearing his own signature within 10 days.

Earlier in the day, Mymensingh SP Syed Nurul Islam appearing in person before the ICT-1 and sought “unconditional apology for his unintentional mistake” admitting his fault, his lawyer M Amin Uddin told Journalists.

The SP also assured the court that such incidents would not repeat in the future, the lawyer said.

Fugitive accused Wazuddin, of Mymensingh's Phulbaria upazila, died of “old-age complications” on May 7 last year.

But police didn't inform the tribunal of the matter until January 12 after a media report brought the matter to the fore.

The ICT-1 on January 31 asked the IGP and SP for the explanation on “blatant inefficiency and negligence” of police in communicating timely the death of a fugitive war crimes accused, which led to his indictment after death.  

The court made the move following a plea moved by prosecutors Rana Dasgupta and Hrishikesh Saha.

SP Islam was summoned before the tribunal today with a written explanation on his negligence and inaction regarding the matter.

The IGP was also asked to submit his explanation on the same day.

The “unusual delay and negligence on part of the superintendent of police” in informing the tribunal of Wazuddin's death led it to frame charges against him in absentia since the prosecution, on the basis of an earlier police report, pressed formal charges identifying him as a fugitive.

On January 11 this year, a private TV channel ran a report that more than six months after his death, the tribunal indicted Wazuddin, appointed a state defence counsel and fixed January 31 to record testimonies of prosecution witnesses.

The following day, the tribunal came down heavily on the prosecution, investigation agency and police for giving it wrong information. On the same day, the Mymensingh SP sent a report to the tribunal's registrar's office on Wazuddin's death.

The tribunal, on January 31 order, said the document that the SP sent showed that the office-in-charge of Phulbaria police informed him about Wazuddin's death on August 22 last year.

But the SP “remained gravely negligent and mum for about five long months” and then sent the report when charges had already been framed against Wazuddin and a report run on the matter, the court said.