56 BDR rebels jailed in Satkhira

The Special Court-1 of Bangladesh Rifles yesterday sentenced 56 accused of 7 Rifle Battalion to different terms of rigorous imprisonment for their involvement in mutiny in Nildumur of Shyamnagar.
The court set up at 41 Rifle Battalion also acquitted four accused -- sepoys Zaidul Islam, Golam Masud, Makbul Hossain and Golam Mostafa Sagir -- as the prosecution could not prove the charges against them.
BDR Director General Maj Gen M Mainul Islam, president of the special court, pronounced the verdict at 1:00pm on completion of trial proceedings under the Bangladesh Rifles Act, 1972.
Twenty-four BDR men were jailed for seven years, four for five years, three for four years and a half, five for four years, three for three years, one for two year and a half, four for two years, two for one year and a half, six for thirteen months, one for six months and three for four months.
The court also fined Tk 100 each of the convicts.
DG Mainul Islam read out the verdict to each of the convicts separately. Before delivering the judgment, he said all the facts and evidence proved mutiny in Nildumur battalion took place on February 26 last year.
The convicts handed down seven years are Subedar Masuduzzaman, Abdus Salam, Abdul Kader, Jasim Uddin, Mosharraf Hossain, Sohag Hossain, Abul Hossain Mia, Shah Alam, Golam Mostafa, Abul Kalam Azad, Abul Khair, Thoai Lau Marma, Delwar Hossain, Maksud Khan, Akhtar Hossain, Khondakar Md Waliullah, Sajedul Islam, Shariful Islam, Helal Uddin, Masud Karim, Abu Naser, Kawsar Ahmed, Abu Zafar Mohammad Fayejul Islam and Emdadul Haque Khan.
The mutineers jailed for five years are Saidul Islam, SM Jahangir Alam, Minhaj Uddin Mondal and Abdur Rahim Sarkar.
Sepoys Ataur Rahman, Akmal Hossain and Anwar Hossain were handed down four years and six months' imprisonment each, while sepoys Yusuf Nur, Ziaur Rahman, Abu Yusuf Fakir, Abdul Baten Bhuiyan and Didarul Alam got four years' rigorous imprisonment.
Those who were sentenced to three years' imprisonment are Mahsin Ali, Mamun Ar Rashid and Shahadat Hossain.
Habildar Jahangir Hossain was awarded two years and six months' rigorous imprisonment, while sepoys Sumon Rahman, Abdullah Al Momin, Ashiqur Rahman and Abdus Samad were jailed for two years.
Habildar Abdul Quddus Mia and Abul Kashem were jailed for one year and six months, while sepoys Yakub Ali, Delwar Hossain, Yunus Ali, Abdul Jalil, AKM Anisur Rahman and Abul Kashem were sentenced to thirteen months' imprisonment.
Sheikh Tahmid Hossain was awarded six months' imprisonment, while Nur Hossain, Binoy Chandra Das and Babul Mia got four months'.
The court awarded lesser punishment to 16 convicts as they sought mercy confessing to their offence on January 20 which saved time for the court proceedings.
Terming the judgment day remarkable in the history of 7 Rifle Battalion, Gen Mainul said all legal proceedings were maintained as per the BDR Act.
He also mentioned that the accused were given 40 days instead of the minimum provision of 27 days for preparing their defence as per the law.
The trial began on December 7 last year and journalists and visitors were allowed to observe the proceedings. The court recorded statements of 27 prosecution witnesses in the case.
The convicts cried out loud soon after Mainul delivered the judgment and left the courtroom. Many of them alleged they have been punished for nothing and the real culprits are still at large.
The mutiny spread in different barracks of the BDR across the country including 7 Rifle Battalion the next day of the bloody mutiny in BDR headquarters in Pilkhana on February 25 last year.