State gallantry awards of Bangabandhu’s 4 fugitive killers to be cancelled: Minister

Liberation War Affairs Minister AQM Mozammel Haque today said that the government has decided to cancel the state gallantry awards, titles and certificates of four convicted killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

A policy decision has been taken to cancel their title and awards, and a gazette in this regard will be issued soon, said the minister while responding to reporters before attending a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Law and Order at the Secretariat today.

The government has finalised the decision to cancel their title and awards after verification, he added.  

Earlier in December, the High Court suspended the state gallantry awards of four convicted killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members.

The HC passed the order following a writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Subir Nandi Das seeking necessary directives on this issue.

The four absconding killers are: Nur Chowdhury, Shariful Haque Dalim, Rashed Chowdhury and Moslehuddin Khan.

Nur Chowdhury was given the gallantry award as Bir Bikram, Shariful Haque Dalim was given the title BirUttam, and Rashed Chowdhury and Moslehuddin Khan were given the honour of Bir Protik for their contributions during the Liberation War in 1971.

The then government had given the awards in 1973 and also issued a gazette notification to this effect on December 15 the same year.

Subir Nandi Das submitted the writ petition as a public interest litigation to the HC on December 2 saying that the convicted killers of the Father of the Nation cannot have state gallantry awards.

The state can cancel their awards under section 14 of the General Clauses Act, he said in the petition, adding that many states of the world, including the USA, have cancelled such awards of many people for different reasons.