Barbaric Grenade Attack of 21st August is an article by Dr.Md. Fazlur Rahman and it is the author’s own opinion and point of view. This has nothing to do with the editorial policy or the opinion of the editorial body of Eurobangla Times.  

4th episode 

 Dr. Md. Fazlur Rahman: (46) This is why the above noted all the accused have been awarded various types of punishment for theirdirect involvement, active participation and whole hearted co-operation in that attack. Among them as many as 19 accused have been convicted and awarded death sentencein each of the aforesaid two cases for the cause of deep rooted conspiracy, approving the plan and executing the attack. They are-

(47) Those who have been awarded life-long imprisonment in each of the above noted two cases are as follows-

(48) Besides the death sentence and life-term imprisonment,top ranking 11 (eleven) police and intelligence officials have also been jailed on 2 (two) charges in the above stated extremely brutal killing case. Among them 5 years imprisonment have been imposed for misleading the investigation and creating Joj Miah drama. Their names are cited bellow-

(49) By the side of this 2 (two) accused have been imposed 4 years imprisonment for assisting the killers financially and administratively. They are-

(50) Side by side 2 (two) accused have been punished for 4 years RI for the cause of destroying the evidences and providing the attackersall types of administrative support. They are-

6. (51) Moreover 3 (three) accused have been awarded for 4 years RI for the offence of protecting the supplier of grenades and helping him flee to Pakistan. They are-

(52) It appears from the record that, after the commencement of aforesaid ferocious grenade attack on 21st August, 2004 cases have been filed on the following day on 22nd August, 2004. Afterwards the CID has submitted the charge sheet on 11th June, 2008 in contrast to 22 accused. Later on the court has framed the charges on 29th October, 2008 against the above mentioned 22 accused. Hence after in view of the prayer of the prosecution side the court has passed the order for further investigation on 12th August, 2009. At a later time the CID has submitted the supplementary charge sheet on 3rd July, 2011 against the 30 more accused including Tarique Rahman, Lutfuzzaman Babar and others.

(53) Hence after the learned court has framed the fresh charges on 18th March, 2012 to the contrary of the above noted 30 accused accordingly. It is to be cited here that, after framing the fresh charges these two cases have also remained in pending for more than 6 years. It is also a matter of fact that, the accused side have challenged the number of orders of the learned trial court as many as 5 times before the honourable High Court Division. But they have failed to obtain any kind of order in favour of them in contrast to the above noted any of the orders of the learned tribunal. As a result, for the cause of above noted factual matters and affairs the aforesaid two cases have remained in pending before the learned tribunal for a long time. At last long after more than 14 years and by taking 1754 working days the much expected judgments have been pronounced by the learned tribunal on 10th October, 2018.

(54) It is to be notable here that, at the time of trial of the above cited 2 (two) cases all the accused persons were given enough time and opportunity to defend themselves in all respects. At a later time the learned tribunal has passed the above stated long awaited and much expected judgments in the open court as usually. Afterwards the learned tribunal has sent the entire records of those 2 (two) cases along with death sentencing verdicts before the honourable high court for approval under section 374 of the Cr. PC. At present these 2 (two) cases are pending before the honourable High Court Division for hearing the death references of the convicts sentenced to death.

(55) In our country it is a very common phenomenon that all the political parties either in position or in opposition along with so called ‘Sushil Somaj’in reality axis of some evil geniuses repeatedly express that all of them are law abiding and peace loving citizens in all respects. They firmly believe in good governance and the rule of law. But the reality is that if any order or decision or any verdict of any learned competent court goes against them or their supporters or followers most of them very promptly react and sharply criticise that order or decision or verdict of the court without thinking the ins and outs of that order or judgment.

(56) It is known to all that, the judgment of Zia Orphanage Trust Graft Case has been passed by the concerned learnedjudge Mr. Md. Aktaruzzaman of the Special Judge Court no. 5 on 8th February, 2018. In that verdict the court has passed the order of 10 (ten) years Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) in contrast to all other accused including BNP vice chairman Tarique Rahman of that case. But considering the position and social status of a former prime minister of the country as well as realising her over age the court has passed the comparatively lesser punishment of 5 (five) years simple imprisonment (SI) to Begum Khaleda Zia in the above stated same case as well as under the same sections of the concerned Ain.

(57) The reality is that after the pronouncement of the aforesaid verdict all the leaders and supporters of BNP bitterly criticised in one voice that the above noted long pending judgment is pre-planned and pre-meditated. It is to be noted down here that Zia Orphanage Trust Graft Case and Zia Charitable Trust CorruptionCase have been instituted under such an Ain which has been enacted in 2004 during the tenure of Begum Khaleda Zia. And at that time BNP leader Barrister Moudud Ahmed was Law Minister indeed. Besides this it is also a matter of fact that at the time of institution of these two cases Barrister Moinul Hossain (one of the founders of Jatiya Oikkyafront) was in charge of Law Minister. The countrymen know that, the Jatiya Oikkyafront is a platform of BNP and their like-minded several other parties.And for the same reason the aforesaid evaluation and realisation of BNP leaders and supporters about the cases of Begum Khaleda Zia is considered as very much disheartening and disappointing.

(58) It is evident from the record that, the above cited two cases have been lodged during the tenure of the caretaker government headed by Mr. Fakhruddin Ahmed. “It was expected that the aforesaid cases would have been disposed of within the time limit of 60 working days. But the reality is that it has taken more than 10 years time to conclude the trial of these cases. By the side of this in lieu of 60 days, it has taken in total 261 working days. As a result, it has taken 201 more days in place of scheduled 60 days. By this time, the learned lawyers of Begum Khaleda Zia have also challenged the number of orders of the trial court before the honourable High Court Division as many as 13 times. At that time they have also tried their best with a prayer for annulment or quashment of the entire trial of those cases. But all of their attempts and efforts in this respect have gone in vain.”[N.B: Ki Hobe Nirbachone (What will happen in the election);Abed Khan (Editor and publisher, The Daily Jagoron);The Daily Janakantha, 25-02-2018].

(59) It is also apparent from the record that,“the learned advocates of Begum Khaleda Zia have prayed before the honourable High Court Division for changing the judge of the trial court again and again. In view of their aforesaid ‘no confidence’ prayers, the trial court have been changed three times by the honourable High Court Division. At last in this regard their fourth petition has been rejected by the High Court Division accordingly. Afterwards having been influenced by the ulterior motive and malafide intention, the learned pleaders of Begum Khaleda Zia have adopted time killing tactics to delay and to complicate as well as frustrate the trial of those cases in a pre-planned way. In this respect they have prayed for time as many as 155 times. The above stated all the time prayers have also been allowed by the trial court accordingly.

(60) Therefore in the light of the above discussed all the factual matters and affairs a simple and very innocent question can be raised that, who has harassed whom in which way? Is she Begum Khaleda Zia herself or the government or the judiciary? But yet the blind supporters, followers and the leaders of BNP are continuously and untiringly trying their best to mislead and misguide the countrymen by telling the various types of blatant lies in this context. It is to be notable here that in the process of the above mentioned unethical performances of the learned lawyers of Begum Khaleda Zia, the prosecution side have also produced and examined as many as 32 witnesses in their favour to prove their case. Afterwards the above stated judgment have been passed by the learned trial court.”[N.B: Ki Hobe Nirbachone (What will happen in the election);Abed Khan (Editor and publisher, The Daily Jagoron);The Daily Janakantha, 25-02-2018].

Dr. Md. Fazlur Rahman,Senior District and Sessions Judge (Retired),Writer and Columnist