THE Appellate Division on September 4 upheld the High Court鈥檚 acquittal of all the 49 accused in the cases of the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally, nullifying the subordinate court鈥檚 conviction of the accused. The heinous grenade attack on the rally of the Awami League, then in the opposition, in front of the party鈥檚 central office in Dhaka left at least 24 people dead, including the party鈥檚 leader Ivy Rahman and scores, including the Awami League鈥檚 chief, wounded. The acquittal may have been correct given the fact that the procedural flaws in the investigation that the appeals court has dealt with in its observation. And, there is hardly any doubt about the observations that the court has made that the due process may not have been followed in the investigation regarding the confessions of the accused and their voluntariness which failed to meet the legal standard of reliability, rendering them unfit for use as credible evidence. Given what has in many cases happened in the past, which is unfortunate though, the court鈥檚 judgements have changed with changes in the government because of police flaws in the investigation and, perhaps, political influence.
Whilst the Appellate Division鈥檚 acquittal of the accused may have been correct, the appeals court struck down the High Court鈥檚 directive for a further investigation of the attack. We believe that the High Court, in its verdict delivered on December 1, 2024, rightly asked the government to hold a thorough, independent investigation of the heinous attack to ensure justice for the victims as earlier proceedings had failed to deliver fair justice. The attack took place. About two dozen people died and scores were wounded. The attack should, therefore, be investigated to unearth what happened then as justice cannot be ensured without further investigation. The Appellate Division struck down the High Court order, saying that such an instruction for the executive violates the constitutional principle of the separation of powers. The appeals court emphasised that courts should not interfere in matters of government policy, ruling that the High Court鈥檚 observation amounted to judicial overreach by way of stepping on the domain of policy-making and ordering that part of the High Court judgement should be expunged. We also believe that the Appellate Divisions should have asked the government to hold further investigation. As the matter is now left with the government, the government should hold a further investigation of the attack to hold perpetrators to justice and to inform the nation what then happened.
The government must, therefore, hold a further, thorough and independent investigation of the grenade attack on the Awami League rally to ensure justice and to inform the nation of what happened and who the perpetrators were.
