The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the High Court鈥檚 acquittal of BNP acting chair Tarique Rahman and 48 others in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack cases, effectively nullifying the lower court鈥檚 conviction of all 49 accused.
At least 24 people, including senior Awami League leader Ivy Rahman, were killed and scores, including the then opposition leader and AL president Sheikh Hasina, were injured when grenades were hurled at the AL rally in front of the party central office at Paltan in the capital.
Meanwhile, any activities of the Awami League have been banned until the competition of trials of those involved in the crimes against humanity committed during the July 2024 mass uprising that ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and she fled to India on August 5, 2024.
On October 10, 2018, Dhaka鈥檚 Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 sentenced 19 people, including former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, to death, Tarique Rahman and 18 others to life term imprisonment, and 11聽 more to various prison terms.
Tarique, along with 15 other accused, was tried in absentia, as he has been living in London since 2008.
The Appellate Division also struck down the High Court directive for a further investigation into the attack, in the verdict that such an instruction to the executive branch violated the constitutional principle of separation of powers.
The apex court emphasised that courts should not interfere in matters of government policy, citing the constitutional principle of separation of powers.
It also ruled that the HC observation amounted to judicial overreach by stepping into the domain of policymaking.
As a result, the apex court ordered that part of the HC judgment to be expunged.
The chief justice, Syed Refaat Ahmed, pronounced the unanimous decision of the six-judge bench in 12 minutes in a crowded courtroom while dismissing the state鈥檚 appeal that challenged the High Court verdict delivered on December 1, 2024, acquitting Tarique, Babar, and 47 others of murder and charges related to explosives, citing legal and procedural flaws in the 2018 trial-court judgment.
Five other Appellate Division judges were Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam, Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, Justice Md Rezaul Haque, Justice SM Emdadul Hoque, and Justice Farah Mahbub.
The Appellate Division issued an order in advance asking the jail authorities to immediately release all the acquitted individuals unless they were wanted in other cases.
It also cited serious doubts over the voluntariness of second confessional statements made in 2007 by three accused 鈥� Harkat-ul Jihad leader Mufti Hannan, his brother Mohibullah, and Moulana Sharif Shahidul Alam 鈥� all within five and a half hours in a single day.
The Appellate Division observed that the prosecution鈥檚 case was significantly weakened by the execution of accused Mufti Abdul Hannan before he could be examined under Section 342 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Mufti Hannan was executed on April 12, 2017 in connection with the grenade attack on then British high commissioner Anwar Choudhury in Sylhet on May 21, 2004.
The attack injured Anwar Choudhury and killed two bystanders and a police officer.
The apex court stated that the second-occasion confessions were either extracted under coercion or made under oppressive and unlawful conditions.
As a result, the apex court ruled, the confessions failed to meet the legal standard of reliability and could not be used as credible evidence.
This finding played a key role in upholding the HC decision to acquit the accused.
The Appellate Division said that several accused, including Mufti Abdul Hannan, were in a prolonged custody 鈥� some in death-row cells 鈥� before being presented to magistrates in 2007 for recording the confessional statement.
Others were held in police custody for extended periods without proper judicial oversight.
The court highlighted that the 2007 confessional statements by Hannan and three other convicts had been recorded on the same day by a single magistrate in what it called an 鈥榰nusual haste,鈥� violating procedural safeguards.
It further pointed out that the accused had later retracted their confessions, alleging they were made under duress, including torture and illegal detention by law enforcement agencies.
On October 10, 2018, Dhaka鈥檚 Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 sentenced the 19 people to death, Tarique and 18 others to life-term imprisonment, and 11 more to varying prison terms.
The High Court acquitted all the convicts and asked the home ministry to initiate a proper investigation by expert and impartial agencies to ensure justice for the victims.
The verdict read, 鈥楾his heinous and tragic incident requires a thorough and independent investigation to bring justice to the victims, including Ivy Rahman, the then AL leader, and others who lost their lives. The earlier proceedings failed to deliver fair justice.鈥�
Earlier in 2011, a supplementary charge sheet added 30 new accused, including Tarique Rahman and Lutfozzaman Babar, based on Hannan鈥檚 second confession in 2007.
This followed a fresh investigation launched in 2009 during the Awami League regime. Sixty-one witnesses testified during the trial.
The original charge sheet, submitted in 2007, named 22 accused, including Mufti Hannan, former BNP state minister Abdus Salam Pintu, and Moulana Tajuddin.
Altogether, 49 people were tried and convicted.
Two cases 鈥� one for the murders and another under the Explosive Substances Act 鈥� were filed by the police against unidentified people in connection with the grenade attack.
The HC verdict observed that 30 additional individuals, including Tarique, Babar, former prime minister Khaleda Zia鈥檚 political secretary Harris Chowdhury, Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid, who was executed in a war crime case, and former National Security Intelligence director general Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury, were named in a supplementary charge sheet.
Chief defence counsel SM Shajahan told 抖阴精品 that it was true that many people were killed in the grenade attack but the trial targeted the wrong individuals to harass them politically as the real perpetrators were not properly identified due to a flawed investigation.
Md Jalal, branded as 鈥楯oj Miah,鈥� spent four years in jail after being falsely implicated in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack case.
His wrongful detention highlighted flaws in the investigation during the BNP regime.
Jalal, hailing from Senbagh, Noakhali, was imprisoned from June 10, 2005 to June 27, 2009.
He was exonerated of the murder charges after CID superintendent Fazlul Kabir submitted the first charge sheet on June 9, 2008.
