The Appellate Division on Tuesday set July 17 to begin hearings on the state鈥檚 appeals against a High Court verdict that acquitted BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman and 48 others in two cases related to the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka.
A seven-member bench, headed by chief justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, fixed the date following a request by attorney general Md Asaduzzaman and senior lawyer Zainul Abedin, who appeared for Tarique.
Both sides requested a prompt hearing of the pending appeals.
The chief justice informed the counsels that the appeals be listed as item No. 1 on the Court-1 hearing schedule.
On June 1, the Appellate Division granted the state leave to appeal against the High Court鈥檚 acquittal verdict. The state had filed the appeals in February 2025.
The High Court on December 1, 2024 overturned the 2018 verdict by the Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-1, citing legal and procedural flaws.
The trial court had sentenced 19 people, including former state minister Lutfozzaman Babar, to death, and handed life sentences to Tarique Rahman and 18 others. Eleven others received varying prison terms.
Tarique, the elder son of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, was tried in absentia. He has been living in London since 2008.
The grenade attack on August 21, 2004 on an Awami League rally on Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka killed 24 people including senior AL聽 leader Ivy Rahman, the wife of late president Zillur Rahman.
The then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina narrowly survived the attack but suffered permanent hearing damage.
Two cases were filed the next day, one for murder and the other under the Explosive Substances Act, against unidentified attackers.