More than 200 accused who were acquitted in murder cases and against whom no appeal was filed have been granted bail in the explosives case filed in the BDR mutinity.
The temporary court of Dhaka Special Tribunal-1 Judge Md. Ibrahim Miah granted them bail on Sunday inside the Keraniganj Central Jail.
Earlier, the court proceedings began after 11 am. Later, the defense lawyer Mohammad Parvez applied to postpone the recording of testimony. On the other hand, the state prosecutor Md. Borhan Uddin prayed to take testimony. Later, after the arguments of both sides, eyewitness Major Syed Md. Yusuf testified in the court at 11:47 am.
On February 25 and 26, 2009, 74 people, including 57 army officers, were killed in the mutiny at the Border Guard Headquarters in Peelkhana, Dhaka. Two cases were filed under the Murder and Explosives Act. After acquittal or serving sentence in the murder case, 468 people are still pending release due to the explosives case.
The trial of 850 people in the murder case ended on November 5, 2013. In addition to the death sentence of 152 people, 160 were sentenced to life imprisonment and 256 to various terms of imprisonment. Moreover, 278 people were acquitted.
On November 27, 2017, the High Court delivered its death reference and appeal verdict in that case. The verdict upheld the death sentences of 139 accused. Along with this, 185 people were sentenced to life imprisonment. In addition, 228 people were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. And 283 were acquitted.
Meanwhile, the trial against 834 accused in the Explosives Act case began in 2010. But in the middle, the state party suspended the proceedings of the explosives case and presented only the evidence of the murder case. For this, the trial of this case was delayed.
After the interim government took office, there was a demand to reopen the investigation into the BDR mutiny. On December 19, the family members of the martyr went to the International Crimes Tribunal with the complaint. On December 24, the government formed a commission headed by ALM Fazlur Rahman to reinvestigate the killings and set a 90-day deadline.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
