Blogger Oyasiqur murder: court withdraws decision of delivering verdict

A Dhaka court today withdrew its decision of pronouncing the judgment of the case filed against five members of banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) over the murder of blogger Oyasiqur Rahman Babu in 2015.

Judge Md Rabiul Alam of Third Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka passed the order after Assistant Public Prosecutor Md Salahuddin Howlader submitted two petitions -- one for withdrawal of the judgment and the other for reframing charges against the accused in the case.

Of the accused, Zikrullah alias Hasan, Ariful Islam alias Mushfiq and MdSaiful Islam are now behind bars, while two others -- Akram Hossain Hasib alias Abdullah and Junayed alias Taher -- are on the run.

Read more: Blogger Oyasiqur Murder Case: Verdict on Oct 27

In the petition, the prosecution said the court while framing charges, brought charges against all the five accused under sections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of Bangladesh Penal Code.

But analysing confessional statements of accused, statements of prosecution witnesses and charge sheet, it was found that before killing the victim, all the accused held a meeting where they conspired. So, the section 124(A) (conspiracy) will be added to the murder and common intention.

After the hearing, the judge allowed the petition for withdrawal of the judgment and fixed November 4 for hearing on the petition for reframing charges against the accused.

On October 4, the court fixed today for delivering the judgment after hearing arguments both from the prosecution and the defence.

Twenty-four prosecution witnesses out of 40 gave their depositions before the court so far in the case.

Oyasiqur (27) was attacked by three youths in the capital's Tejgaon industrial area on March 30, 2015. Monir Hossain, brother-in-law of the victim, filed a murder case with Tejgaon Industrial Police Station.