21 August grenade attack: HC acquits Tarique, Babar, all others
HC scraps verdict as based on hearsay testimonies, declares whole trial proceeding illegal
The High Court has scrapped the lower court verdict in the two cases filed over the grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka on 21 August 2004, acquitting all convicts, including BNP acting chairperson Tarique Rahman and former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar.
The bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain delivered the judgment today, declaring the whole trial proceedings of the case, including the charge sheet, illegal.
Deputy Attorney General Mohammad Jasim Sarker represented the prosecution on behalf of the state. The defence attorneys for the accused were advocates SM Shahjahan and Mohammad Shishir Manir.
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Talking to reporters after the judgment, Manir said the trial conducted was illegal because it was not based on the law. "The court said there was no collaboration between [the testimonies of] any of the witnesses. The conviction was based solely on the hearsay testimonies of witnesses."
Manir said the court also mentioned that the witnesses failed to clarify who had thrown the grenades during the attack and only described the incident. "Besides, no investigation officer in the charge sheet mentioned who had supplied the grenades."
Sharing more observations of the court, the lawyer said the court observed that there was no evidence of anyone having seen or witnessed the incident firsthand.
"The court also observed that confessional statements taken from the accused were extracted through torture," he added.
Manir further said Mufti Abdul Hannan, the then chief of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh, had given two confessional statements (before he was executed in another case in April 2017).
"We had argued there was no precedent for convicting anyone based solely on a second confession in the 400-year history of the Indian subcontinent. Today, the court stated that the second confession he [Hannan] made was later retracted, and as such, there was no legal basis for this confession," he added.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman said the state will soon decide whether to file an appeal challenging the verdict.
"The decision will be made after reviewing the reasoning behind the judgment and the directions provided. I think an appeal should be filed," Asaduzzaman told The Business Standard this afternoon.
Grenade attack
On 21 August 2004, the grenade attack was carried out targeting a rally of the Awami League President Sheikh Hasina on Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital.
The attack, which took place during the tenure of the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami coalition government, killed 24 people including then Awami League women's affairs secretary Ivy Rahman.
On 10 October 2018, Judge Shahed Nuruddin of Dhaka's First Speedy Trial Tribunal sentenced 19 people to death, including BNP leaders Babar and Abdus Salam Pintu, in the two cases filed over the grenade attack.
Besides, 19 others, including Tarique, were sentenced to life imprisonment. Another 11 were sentenced to different terms of imprisonment.
Later that year, on 27 November, the judgment, along with all necessary documents, of the trial court reached the death reference wing of the High Court. The imprisoned accused appealed against the verdicts of the court.
In December 2022, a High Court bench led by Justice Sahidul Karim began hearing the appeals, jail petitions and death references. In between the hearings, the bench was reconstituted, and the new bench restarted the hearing.
The acquitted
The 19 people who were given the death penalty but were acquitted today include Lutfozzaman Babar. former deputy minister Pintu, Hanif Enterprise owner M Hanif, former NSI directors general Abdur Rahim and Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury, Pintu's brother Harkat-ul-Jihad leader Maulana Tajuddin, Abdul Malek alias Golam Mohammad, Sheikh Abdus Salam, Kashmiri citizen Abdul Majid Bhat, Maulana Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid, Mufti Hannan's brother Mohibullah Mafizur Rahman, Maulana Abu Sayeed, Abul Kalam Azad alias Bulbul, Md Jahangir Alam, Maulana Abu Taher, Hossain Ahmed Tamim, Mainuddin Sheikh alias Abu Jandal, Md Rafiqul Islam, and Md Ujjal alias Ratan.
The 19 people who were given life in prison include Tarique, Khaleda Zia's former political secretary Harris Chowdhury, former BNP MP Kazi Shah Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad, former ward commissioner Ariful Islam Arif, Harkat-ul-Jihad leader Abdul Hannan alias Sabbir, Maulana Yahiya, Maulana Abdur Rouf, Md Khalil, Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Mufti Abdul Hai, Babu alias Ratul Babu, Shahadat Ullah alias Jewel, Arif Hasan alias Sujan, Mahibul Muttakin, Anisul Mursalin, Jahangir Alam Badar, Md Iqbal, Abu Bakar alias Selim Howlader, and Liton alias Maulana Liton.
The 11 people, jailed for different periods include former IGP Khoda Baksh Chowdhury, former special superintendent of police (SP) Ruhul Amin, former senior ASP Munshi Atiqur Rahman and former ASP Abdur Rashid of CID, former IGP Ashraful Huda, former IGP Shahudul Haque, Khaleda's nephew Lt Commander (retd) Saiful Islam Duke, former DGFI director ATM Amin Ahmed, sacked Lt Col Saiful Islam Joardar, and former Dhaka Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner (east) Mohammad Obaidur Rahman and deputy commissioner (South) Khan Syed Hasan.
