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The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday upheld the High Court verdict that acquitted BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, former state minister Lutfozzaman Babar, and 47 others in two cases filed over the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally.
On August 21, 2004, the gruesome grenade attack was carried out on the rally at Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka, leaving at least 24 people killed and 300 injured.
Then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina, who later ran the country as the prime minister for 15 years and was forced to flee on August 5 last year amid an uprising, narrowly escaped the attack.
The two cases — one for murder and another under the Explosives Substances Act — were lodged after the incident was considered to be one of the most sensational political crimes in the country’s history.
Yesterday, a six-member bench of the Appellate Division, led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, dismissed the state’s appeal challenging the HC verdict.
With the apex court judgment, Tarique has got acquittal from all the cases in which he had been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment, and therefore, there is no legal bar for him to contest elections, his lawyer Zakir Hossain Bhuiyan told The Daily Star.
The lawyer, however, could not instantly say in how many cases Tarique had been convicted and sentenced by courts.
Replying to a query, lawyer Zakir hoped that the BNP acting chairman would return home in November or December this year.
Earlier in the day, while delivering the verdict, the SC expressed doubts whether the accused had made the confessional statements voluntarily.
The apex court also expunged the HC’s observation suggesting that the home ministry could conduct a fresh investigation. Additionally, it directed the authorities to free if any accused is still in jail in connection with the cases.
In the judgment, the SC said, “The circumstances under which the confessional statements of the accused were obtained have given rise to serious doubt about their voluntariness, inasmuch as the alleged mastermind of the offence, Mufti Abdul Hannan, was produced before the magistrate to record a second confessional statement long four years after making the first and at a time when he had been in a condemned cell for a prolonged period. The remaining accused gave their statements before the magistrate after being in police custody for a long time, as discussed above.
“Furthermore, the confessional statements of three accused were recorded by a single magistrate on the same day, with unusual haste in gross violation of the prescribed rules. The prayers of most of the accused for retraction of their confessional statements on the ground of inhuman torture on the persons and their unauthorised detention in custody by the law-enforcing agencies without the order of a magistrate and the aforesaid circumstances have rendered the confessional statements highly doubtful as to their voluntary nature.”
After the verdict, principal defence lawyer SM Shahjahan told reporters,”Justice has been served, and the Appellate Division has further ensured it. We are grateful.”
Another defence lawyer, Mohammad Shishir Manir, said it has been proved that the accused were not involved in the incident. “We sympathise with the victims, but no one can be punished without evidence.”
In his reaction, BNP’s Law Affairs Secretary Kayser Kamal said, “Out of political vengeance, [deposed prime minister] Sheikh Hasina implicated Tarique Rahman in the cases. The Supreme Court verdict has proved that Tarique Rahman is innocent. It has also proved that Sheikh Hasina never wanted justice for the killings, including that for Ivy Rahman’s.”
On December 1 last year, the HC acquitted all 49 accused, including Tarique and Babar, overturning trial court verdicts that had convicted and sentenced them for the grenade attack on the AL rally.
The state later filed the appeal with the Appellate Division, challenging the HC verdict.
A section of lawyers including SM Shajahan, AM Mahbub Uddin, Md Bodruddoza Badal, Md Ruhul Quddus Kazla, Emdadul Haque Azad, Kayser Kamal, Jaiad Bin Amjad, Gazi Kamrul Islam Sazal, Zakir Hossain Bhuyian, Siddique Ullah Miah, and Md Maksud Ullah appeared for the accused while Additional Attorney General Abdul Jabber Bhuiyan, deputy attorneys general Abdullah Al Mahmud, Md Jahirul Islam Sumon, and Md Asad Uddin represented the state during hearing of the appeal.