Dhaka, Nov 04 The full bench of the Appellate Division will hear on December 11 the appeal petition against the High Court verdict in jail killing case.
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court led by the Chief Justice fixed the date of hearing following prayer by Attorney General Mahbube Alam Sunday morning.
The chief state counsel for the case Anisul Haque was with the AG when the prayer was submitted to the bench.
Later, Anisul Haque said, "Now, we can start hearing on Dec 11 as the Appellate Division fixed the date."
The Attorney General's Office submitted 'concise statement' of jail killing case to the Appellate Division on Thursday, a year and eight months after getting permission to appeal against a High Court verdict.
Earlier, the state counsel for jail killing case Anisul Haque submitted the summary statement of the appeal to the AG's Office last week.
A regular bench of the Appellate Division, led by then Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque, on Jan 11, 2011 had approved the leave to appeal filed by the state.
Then the Appellate Division had asked Dafadar Marfat Ali Shah and Abul Hashem Mridha, the two accused in the jail killing case and acquitted by the High Court, to surrender to law enforcers. The court also asked the police to arrest them if they did not surrender immediately.
But state counsel Haque on Wednesday said, "Police couldn't arrest them as they are absconding. I am not sure about their whereabouts but can assure that they are not in Bangladesh."
"If they do not surrender, they will not have the right to engage lawyer to stand for them at the Appellate Division, and there is no bar to proceed with the final hearing without their representation by a lawyer in such a situation."
The Appellate Division in its previous order termed 'inactive' the appeal against the High Court verdict that acquitted Faruq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid, Bazlul Huda and A K M Mahiuddin, as they had been executed for their conviction in the Bangabandhu murder case.
The government, during the hearing of leave to appeal, first prayed for conducting the trial again, but then changed its stance to avoid delay as most of the allegedly accused in this case were sentenced to different terms in the Bangabandhu case.
The four national leaders of the wartime national government — Acting President Syed Nazrul Islam, Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed and Cabinet ministers M Mansur Ali and AHM Qamruzzaman — were killed inside the Dhaka Central Jail on Nov 3, 1975.
The Awami League government had revived the trial in the jail killing case after it came to power in 1996. Charge sheets were submitted against 23 people on Oct 15, 1998.
On Oct 20, 2004, Dhaka's Metropolitan Sessions Court Judge Matiur Rahman had awarded death sentences to fugitives Risaldar Moslem Uddin, Dafadar Marfat Ali Shah and Abul Hashem Mridha in the case.
It also awarded lifer to Syed Faruk Rahman, Sultan Shahrier Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda and AKM Mahiuddin Ahmed — all of whom were executed for the murder of Bangabandhu — and eight others.
But, the High Court in 2008 upon petitions acquitted Marfat Ali, Hashem Mridha, Faruk, Shahrier, Bazlul and Mahiuddin.
On Sep 14, 2009, the government filed the petition for leave to appeal against the High Court judgment. The hearing on the petition began on Nov 7, 2009.
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