No decision yet on courtroom relocation
The hearing in the explosive case filed for the February 2009 Bangladesh Rifles mutiny was on Thursday deferred till January 19 as the makeshift courtroom at Government Alia Madrassah was set on fire Wednesday night, escalating tensions over the trial.
The development came amidst protests for justice for the members of the erstwhile BDR, dismissed and detained after the 2009 BDR mutiny.
Families of the BDR members blocked Shahbagh crossing for the second consecutive day on Thursday, demanding release of the detained BDR members and reinstatement of their jobs or compensation.
The other case filed for the February 25-26 BDR mutiny that killed 74 people, including 57 army officers, is pending with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court as the government and convicts preferred appeals against the High Court verdict in the case.
The judge of the Dhaka additional metropolitan sessions judge court 1, Md Ibrahim Mia deferred the proceedings in ther explosive case at 11:45am on Thursday after inspecting the fire-damaged courtroom alongwith chief public prosecutor Borhan Uddin and his team.
Borhan later told 抖阴精品 that the court set January 19 for the hearing the bail petitions of over 400 detained BDR soldiers and recording deposition of prosecution witnesses in the explosive case.
The fire incident also complicated the ongoing debate on the location of the makeshift courtroom.
Defense lawyers proposed relocating the trial to a new makeshift courtroom at the abandoned Dhaka Central Jail in Nazimuddin Road or a Women鈥檚 Jail on the Keraniganj jail compound.
Borhan said the home and the law ministries would make a decision on the issue.
He said that government officials on Wednesday night issued conflicting statements on the issue.
The law ministry鈥檚 public relations officer Rezaul Karim informed journalists by WhatsApp messages that the hearing would be held at the Alia Madrassah compound although the earlier decision was to hold the proceedings at the Dhaka Central Jail at Keraniganj.
The inspector general of prisons, Brigadier General Syed Md Motaher Hossain, wrote to the home ministry on January 8, approving the relocation of the courtroom to Keraniganj jail.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge, in a December 1, 2024 letter to the law ministry, made the same recommendation.
The trial court judge, Md Ibrahim Mia, also noted that the Alia Madrassah compound was suitable, especially after being damaged during the student-led mass uprising.
Additionally, 320 detained BDR members had already been transferred to Dhaka Central Jail for trial proceedings, as it was deemed more convenient for transporting the accused.
Despite these preparations, the government abruptly decided to keep the proceedings at the Alia Madrassah compound.
Jail officials revealed that they were informed late at night on Wednesday about the change, and no orders were issued to produce the detainees before the court.
Borhan Uddin, however, said that the production of the detained soldiers was unnecessary for the bail hearings.
More than 400 bail applications remained pending with the court in the case, which has dragged on for years amidst logistical and legal hurdles.
The high-profile trial has faced persistent challenges, including protests from families of the accused, who demand their release and exoneration from charges of murder and explosives.
The fire damaged several air coolers, electronics, furniture and聽 corrugated iron-sheet ceiling of the makeshift courtroom.
Judge Ismail Hossain arrived at the site at 11:30 am on Thursday and left at about 12:10pm under tight security.
He entered the compound amidst protests by the madrassah students against the trial proceeding on their premises.
Security forces, accompanied by army personnel, cleared the way for the judge and prosecution team, while defense lawyers were barred from accessing the fire-damaged courtroom.
Protesters claimed that two officers from Chawkbazar police station unlocked the gate of the court compound on Wednesday night and fled before the fire incident.
Students also said that the courtroom interfered with a cultural event planned on the madrassah premises for Thursday.
They demanded the permanent relocation of the courtroom.
Firefighters from Lalbagh Fire Station were alerted at 4:22am but were blocked from accessing the compound by madrassah students.
Fire Service officer Talha Bin Jashim said that two fire units waited outside the premises for nearly seven hours as they were not permitted to intervene.
Chawkbazar police officer-in-charge Rezaul Hossain, however, said, 鈥業t was not a major fire, just smoke.鈥�
He confirmed that no complaints had been filed regarding the fire and said that the police had no immediate plans to initiate legal action.
The home ministry on December 23, 2024 constituted the National Independent Investigation Commission in the wake of continuous demands from family of the army officers killed during the BDR mutiny.
Earlier on December 19, 2024, some members of the victim families filed a complaint against deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her defense adviser Tarique Ahmed Siddique, former army chief Moneen U Ahmed and 55 others for the BDR carnage.
On November 5, 2013, the trial court sentenced 568 accused, mostly BDR troops, including 152 to death, 162 to imprisonment for life term, 256 to jail for varying terms for the murders during the BDR mutiny.
On November 27, 2017, the High Court upheld the death sentences of 139 out of 152 death convicts from the trial court for killing 57 commanders on deputation from the army during the mutiny.
Death sentences of seven other BDR soldiers and Md Zakir Hossain, then a local Awami League leader, were reduced to life terms.
It also upheld the life imprisonment of 146 out of the 160 life term聽 recipients from the trial court.
Two of them, including Bangladesh Nationalist party leader Nasir uddin Ahmed Pintu, died in custody while 12 others were acquitted.
The convicts鈥� appeals against the AL government鈥檚 appeals against acquittals of BDR members await Appellate Division鈥檚 hearing.
The High Court called for holding probes to find out why the BDR intelligence agency failed to gather information that a mutiny was brewing to coincide with BDR Week 2009 celebrations.
The High Court in the verdict also called the carnage a pre-planned massacre of 57 brilliant army officers, then serving BDR on deputation, by some ambitious BDR sepoys during their 30-hour mutiny.
