Kibria's murder trial shortchanged by poor progress
In the first place, it took a long 10 years to start the trial of the murder case of former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria. The inordinate time taken to start a murder trial defies logic, even by our standards.
Understandably, there had to be several investigations since the plaintiff as well as the wife of the victim had expressed their no-confidence on the two initial charge sheets respectively, the second in 2011. And three years had elapsed between then and 2015 when the trial finally got underway. And there are reservations too, since the family of the victim hold the view that the investigation is incomplete, and there is perhaps more under the rug than has been actually unearthed.
But what is equally surprising is the rather slow progress of the trial even after it was transferred to the speedy tribunal court in 2015. We understand that no deposition has been recorded by the court from November 2016 till now. This was either because the accused were not present, or in some cases, the witnesses were absent. And to add to that was the fact that the trial judge was on leave between August 2017 and February 2018. We understand that a new judge has taken over from October 2018.
As it is, any trial process in Bangladesh is time-consuming. It is unfair, to the victim in particular, but to all the concerned parties too, that a trial should linger on for years on end. The state has doubly ensured that the trial of certain cases is speeded up by setting up special tribunals, but the idea is defeated when even speedy tribunal trials take an inexplicably long time to complete a trial. Given the circumstances narrated above, would we be remiss in thinking that the administration is giving a short shrift to the trial of the killing of the former finance minister?
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