A Rajshahi court on Sunday acquitted all the 114 accused, mostly leaders and activists of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir, of the alleged murder of Bangladesh Chhatra League activist Faruk Hossain.
The murder case was filed after the police recovered the body of Faruk, a bachelor鈥檚 degree final year student of mathematics in Rajshahi University, in a manhole on the campus in the morning of February 09, 2010 after BCL, now a banned outfit, and Chhatra Shibir had clashed the previous night at the university.
Judge Md Zulfiqar Ullah of Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge 1st Court, Rajshahi, cleared all the accused as the charges brought against them could not be proven beyond reasonable doubt, said public prosecutor Md Ali Ashraf Masum.
Of the 114 accused named in the charge sheet, nine including late Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee, died during the trial, leaving 105 still alive.
Among them, 25 were present in court during the verdict, he added.
Replying a question, Ali Ashraf Masum said that it was too early to comment on whether he was satisfied or dissatisfied with the verdict.
鈥榃e will review the full judgment first. However, it appears that the case was politically motivated and many of the real perpetrators were left out at the time,鈥� he said.
After the recovery of Faruk鈥檚 body, then university unit BCL general secretary Majedul Islam Apu filed a murder case with the Motihar police, accusing 35 named persons and an unnamed hundred others.
Two years after the murder, case investigation officer Zillur Rahman submitted the charge sheet against 110 Jamaat-Shibir men, including late Jamaat leader Matiur Rahman Nizami, Ali Ahsan聽Muhammad聽Mujahid and Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, on July 28 in 2012.
Seven years later on July 25 in 2019, Rajshahi Metropolitan Additional Session Judge 1st Court Enayet Kabir Sarkar framed the charges against 104 people, including war crimes convict Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, while six charge-sheeted accused died in the previous years.
Among the six, Matiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan聽Muhammad聽Mujahid were executed following their conviction in the International Crimes Tribunal, Shaheen and Shahadat were killed in alleged 鈥榞unfights鈥� with law enforcers, while Ataur Rahman and Abu Samah died of illness.
