253 jawans get rigorous imprisonment

A special court of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) yesterday sentenced 253 of 256 jawans of 36 Rifle Battalion and BDR Hospital to different periods of rigorous imprisonment, ranging from four months to seven years, in a mutiny case.
The three-member Special Court-10, led by Col Khandaker Obaidul Ahsan, also fined each convict Tk 100.
The court, which ran for nearly two hours starting from 10:20am, also exonerated an accused, who died during the trial, and acquitted two others as allegations against them were not proven. The duo had earlier pleaded guilty before the court.
During the mutiny at the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) Headquarters in Pilkhana on February 25-26 in 2009, 57 top and mid-ranking army officers were killed alongside 17 people.
A total 18 charges were brought against the jawans.
Those include leaving the Darbar Hall defying the orders of the then director general Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed, collecting firearms and ammunition from the armouries, not controlling their juniors and taking effective measures to thwart the mutiny and taking part in the mutiny with firearms.
This was the eighth verdict by special courts set up in Pilkhana, giving verdicts against 2,316 jawans in the mutiny case till date. Other courts in the country gave verdicts against 4,209 jawans.