A Dhaka court on Wednesday posted for August 24 the beginning of the trial of the 847 people after the the court on the day had completed their indictment with murder and other criminal offences committed during the rebellion at the headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles, now renamed as Border Guard Bangladesh, in Dhaka in February 25-26, 2009.
The trial will begin with the recording of the depositions of prosecution witnesses.
Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge Mohammad Jahurul Haque ordered the plaintiff of the case to appear before it on August 24 to make his deposition as the first prosecution witness.
The court on Wednesday indicted 107 of the accused by reading out their charges and the court asked whether the accused pleaded guilty.
None of the accused, however, pleaded guilty.
On July 20 and 27, the court framed charges against 749 out of the total 847 accused in the case, including former BNP lawmaker Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu and local Awami League leader Torab Ali, and a number of deputy assistant directors, for murder and 25 other criminal offences committed during the rebellion.
The court on Wednesday started framing charges against the accused in the makeshift courthouse set up in the Aliya Madrassah ground at Bakshi Bazar in the capital amid tightened security.
During the framing of charges, accused Atikur Rahman told the court that he had been on vacation in February 19-27, 2009.
Following departmental investigation, he was cleared of the BDR mutiny charge, Atikur Rahman told the court.
The court replied, ‘You may ask the question later on.’
The court told a sepoy, Al Amin, ‘You have made a statement before a magistrate.’
Al Amin replied that he did not make any statement in court but he was interrogated by the Criminal Investigation Department.
After the indictment, the chief prosecutor Anisul Haq told the court that 20 of the accused were still in hiding.
The court later started framing charge against the accused under the supplementary charge sheet.
The accused named in the supplementary charge sheet told the court that he had been detained for 15 months and 5 days after the mutiny in the headquarters of the border force.
He was released later and his commanding officer suspended him, the accused told the court.
‘Five months after my suspension, the authorities called me and asked to be a witness. As I refused to do so, I was made accused,’ said the accused, who used to work as a cook in the border force headquarters.
Nayek subedar Rafiqul Islam, convicted in a mutiny case, told the court that they had held an inter-intelligence meeting on February 22, 2009 fearing trouble.
‘People of all the intelligence agencies attended the meeting at the headquarters but only some rifle security unit members such as us were implicated in the case,’ said Rafiqul Islam, who was dismissed from the security unit, which is now renamed as BG Security Force, after his conviction.
The Criminal Investigation Department, however, cleared him after the preliminary investigation, he told the court.
‘If all intelligence agencies feared the rebellion, why am I the only one to be victimised?’ Rafiqul told the court.
He gave an assurance that justice would be meted out in keeping with the law and asked the defence prosecutors not to waste time during the trial.
Of the accused, 829, including Nasir Uddin and Torab Ali, a retired subedar, were present in the courtroom.
Three of the accused have, meanwhile, died and they were not indicted. The court also asked the prosecution to publish advertisements in national daily newspapers asking the 20 of the accused still in hiding to be present in the court.
The Criminal Investigation Department pressed charges in two cases – one filed under the Penal Code for murder, arson, robbery and other crimes and the other filed under the Explosive Substances Act for illegally taking up arms – against 850 border guard personnel and civilians.
After the completion of indictment of the 847 accused, the prosecution counsel sought permission to read out the names of 831 of the accused to frame charges against them under Section 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substances Act.
Citing the legal bindings, the defence counsel, Faruque Ahmed, told the court that the framing of charges under the act would be ‘illegal.’
The court, however, stopped him.
Following the court permission, the prosecution counsel started reading out of the names but the defence counsel, Faruque Ahmed, objected to the way of reading.
Sustaining the objection, the court asked the prosecution to read out the names properly.
After the names had been read out, the court asked the prosecution to define the time, place and manner of the case.
The chief prosecutor, Anisul Haq, briefed on the case.
Seventy-five people, including 57 army officers, were killed at the BDR headquarters during the 2009 rebellion.
-With New Age input
