310 more people indicted

A Dhaka court on Wednesday charged 310 more people 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.

With the 310, the court has so far charged 740 people, including civilians and border guard soldiers out total 847 accused in the case.

Earlier on July 20, the court framed charges against 430 people, 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.

Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge Mohammad Jahurul Haque on Wednesday began framing charges against the accused persons by reading out their charges and the court asked whether the accused pleaded guilty or not. None of the accused pleaded guilty.

The court started framing charges against the accused at the makeshift courthouse set up on the Aliya Madrassah ground at Bakshi Bazar in the capital amid tightened security, power outages and excessive hot weather on the day.

The court read out the charges against the accused individually in the overcrowded room till 1:05pm with two breaks including a 30-minute break for power outage.

Most of the accused wanted to say something when the charges were being framed but the court did not allow anyone to speak.

The court did not pay heed to their speech and just asked, 'Tell me, you pled guilty or not.'

A middle-aged civilian accused, Javed, told the court that there was nobody to whom 'we can tell our plight... I was picked up from a roadside tea-stall by the law enforcers one year ago on charge of BDR carnage and I was implicated with the charges...'

The court did not allow him to complete his sentence and asked him to answer whether he pleaded guilty or not.

As the court asked accused Subedar Elias whether he was accused or not, he replied, 'I was asked to be one of the witnesses of the case. As I denied doing so, I was made an accused.'

During framing of charges, Arshad Ali, another accused, requested the court to tell him the number of witnesses to the charges brought against him.

But the court denied telling him the number of witnesses set for him, saying, 'There is no opportunity to do so.'

Many of the accused told the court that they were arrested one year after the mutiny took place in their headquarters.

Nayeb Subedar Nurul Islam told the court that he was arrested one year after the mutiny took place in the headquarters while he was not involve with mutiny.

During the proceedings, an apparently sick accused, Nayek Shahidul, told the court that he was suffering from diabetics, paralysis and other diseases.

He applied to the court for a directive so that his fetters and shackle, and hand-cuff could be removed. The court, however, did not give any directives.

At once, one of defence counsels, Sultan Mahmud, approached the dais and requested the court to consider the rights of the accused as they were most of the time kept with hand-cuffs, fetters and shackles.

As excessive heat made the court proceedings difficult, some defence counsels, including Faruque Ahmed and Sultan Mahmud, at about 1:00pm requested the court to adjourn the proceedings for the day.

The court agreed to adjourn the proceedings. 'It is very hot. We are uncomfortable due to excessive heat and the accused are hungry,' the presiding judge said while adjourning the proceedings till August 10.

But one of the prosecutors, Mosharraf Hossain Kajal, snatching the microphone from the defence lawyers, repeatedly requested the court to continue with a short break. The court, however, denied continuing.

Of the accused, 829 including Nasir Uddin and Torab Ali, a retired Subedar, were present in the courtroom.

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.

A total of 75 people, including 57 army officers, were killed at Pilkhana, the headquarters of the BDR in course of the mutiny on February 25-26, 2009.

Source : New Age