The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court will deliver its verdict on September 4 on the state's appeal against the High Court verdict that acquitted all accused in two cases filed over the 21 August 2004 grenade attack.
A six-member bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed concluded the hearings of the appeal on Thursday and set the date for delivering the verdict.
On 21 August 2004, a horrific grenade attack took place at an Awami League rally on Bangabandhu Avenue, recently renamed the Shaheed Abrar Fahad Avenue, in the capital.
Twenty-four people, including Awami League Women's Affairs Secretary Ivy Rahman, were killed and at least 300 were injured. The then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina narrowly escaped with her life.
Two separate cases were filed – one over murder and another under the explosive substances act – following the attack.
After a long judicial process, the lower courts announced its verdict in 2018, sentencing 19 people, including former state minister for home affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar and former Deputy Minister Abdus Salam Pintu, to death.
Nineteen others, including BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, were sentenced to life imprisonment and 11 others were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment and fines.
On 1 December last year, the High Court acquitted the accused by quashing all the sentences given by the lower courts.
The High Court verdict said although the incident was horrific and tragic, there was a clear lack of a fair and independent investigation. The court recommended sending the case to the home ministry and starting a new investigation through a specialised agency.
The full verdict was published on the Supreme Court's website on 19 December last year. The state then filed separate leave to appeal petitions. The Appellate Division granted the appeal in the explosives case on 1 June this year.
Later, the hearing on the appeal began on July 17 through presentation from the case summary.
Comments