Justice is delayed further for the families of the 24 people killed and the scores of survivors wounded in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka, as the High Court鈥檚 hearing over the two cases has been deferred for two and a half months after the fall of Sheikh Hasina government on August 5.聽聽
Most of those killed and injured in the attack were Awami League leaders and activists. The then-opposition leader and party鈥檚 president, Sheikh Hasina,聽 escaped death but suffered hearing damage.
The two cases were filed by the police on August 22, 2004, in connection with the attack. One was over the murders, and the other was filed under the Explosive Substances Act.
Families and victims of the cases could not be contacted as their phones were switched off after the changeover of the Awami League government.
The interim government鈥檚 additional attorney general Aneek Rushd Haque told 抖阴精品 on Tuesday that the High Court Justice Shahidul Karim and Justice Md Atabullah on Sunday adjourned the hearing of the two cases until October 27 as they needed preparation to place arguments.
The Supreme Court will go for long vacation from September 8 to October 17.聽聽聽聽
The former Awami League government鈥檚 law officer Bashir Ahmed, who resigned recently, said that the cases were at the final stage as the defence lawyers almost completed their argument.
He said that former attorney general AM Amin Uddin, who also resigned after Sheikh Hasina had resigned as prime minister and fled the country, started making arguments.聽
On October 10, 2018, the Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 sentenced 19 people to death and jailed 19 others, including current acting Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairman Tarique Rahman, for life and 11 others for varying terms in the two cases over the attack.
Tarique, the eldest son of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, was tried in absentia as he has been staying in London since September 12, 2008.
Six years have passed since the lower court convicted 49 people, but the High Court has still not decided on the reference of the 19 death row convicts and the appeals of most of the 19 life-term recipients and 11 other convicts.
Former deputy attorney general Bashir Ahmed, who was assigned to conduct the August 21 case for the state, told 抖阴精品 on Tuesday that the High Court that heard the August 21 cases, was reconstituted by changing junior judge Md Mostafizur Rahman.
The court heard depositions of the total of 235 witnesses in the cases.
The High Court initiated the proceedings for hearing the case on September 27, 2020.
On November 27, 2018, the references for the 19 death sentence recipients were sent to the High Court for examination of the lower court verdict.