A Dhaka court on Wednesday charged 430, out of the 847, accused, including former BNP lawmaker Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu and local Awami League leader Torab Ali, with murder and other criminal offences committed during the rebellion at the headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles, now renamed as Border Guard Bangladesh, in February 25–26, 2009.
After rejecting pleas that sought discharge of the 827 accused in the morning, Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge Mohammad Jahurul Haque began framing charges against the individual accused person.
As the proceedings began, the court said that the prosecution had already read out the charges and now the accused would answer individually whether they pleaded guilty.
Some defence counsel, including Faruque Ahmed, Sultan Mahmud and Ramjan Ali Khan, opposed the court’s framing of charges and requested the court to read out charges to the accused individually.
The court then stared framing charges against the accused amid heightened security about 10:00am.
The court read out the charges against the accused individually in the overcrowded room till 4:40pm with a 30-minute break and asked whether they pleaded guilty or not.
The makeshift court room has been set up on the Aliya Madrassah ground at Bakshi Bazar in the capital.
None of the accused pleaded guilty and they all sought court’s compassion.
Most of the accused, including a number of deputy assistant directors, wanted to say something when the charges were being framed but the court did not allow anyone to do so. It said that the law does allow anyone to say anything in this stage.
The court then read out the charge against Nasir Uddin Ahmed Pintu, who was sporting beard and was wearing an Islamic cap and a long punjabi.
During the framing of the charge, Nasir Uddin told the court, ‘The charges you [the court] read out were false.’
He said that he had not even given any statement in court under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure or to the police under Section 161.
Nasir Uddin said that the authorities concerned had implicated the ministers and parliamentarians in the case although they had given statements in court and to the police on the rebellion.
‘They were made witnesses and were not accused,’ he told the court. ‘If there are irregularities here, I do not know whether I could get justice?’
The court then told him, ‘You are a former lawmaker. You make laws. You know laws. If you do not get justice in court, then you could go to the High Court.’
After the charges against the 430 had been read out, the court adjourned the proceedings till July 27 when the court would start framing charges against the other accused.
The jail guards, who were in the dock, snatched the microphone from the accused whoever wanted to say anything about the rebellion.
The accused Shakil Ahmed told the court that he had been tortured for 14 days just after his arrest.
He told the court, ‘You cited my confession in the charge sheet but no statement was taken from me in the presence of a magistrate.’
Abdul Qaiyum, another accused, sought a minute from the court when he was asked to say whether would plead guilty. But one of the jail guards snatched away the microphone from him.
‘If we cannot talk to the court, where will we get justice?’ nayek Motiur Rahman Khan told the court.
The court then said, ‘Stay here! There is no provision to allow you to say anything in court in this stage of the trial.’
During the proceedings, a number of the accused told the court that statements were extracted from them through torture.
The accused Hayder told the court that he had been a victim of torture and conspiracy. ‘The Rapid Action Battalion had tortured me for 39 day in its custody.’
Of the accused, 829 including Nasir Uddin and Torab Ali, a retired Subedar, were present in the courtroom.
Torab, Towhidul Alam, deputy assistant director of the border guards, and subedar major Gofran Mallik were also indicted.
The Criminal Investigation Department filed two cases — one under the Penal Code for murder, arson, robbery and other crimes and the other under the Explosive Substances Act for illegally taking up arms — against 850 border guard personnel and civilians.
Three of the accused have meanwhile died and they were not indicted. Twenty of the accused are still in hiding.
-With New Age input
