Sagar Biswas :
The trial procedure of sensational Ramna Batamul bomb blasts case during Pahela Baishakh celebrations in 2001 could not come to an end though 16 years elapsed in the meantime.
Court officials said that the explosive case in this connection under Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 has been delayed as the witnesses did not respond to the trial. The next hearing date is fixed on April 24. But four accused of the case are still absconding.
In fact, the trial in Ramna Batamul bomb blast case remains stuck as the police failed to produce the arrested accused before the court. As a result, the victims’ family members are yet to get justice because of the slow trial process.
Ramna Batamul bombing was a serial bomb attacks on 14 April 2001 at a cultural programme of the Pahela Baishakh celebrations arranged by Chhayanot, a leading cultural organisation of the country.
Ten people, including Md Sujan, a Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami [HuJI] militant, died and at least 40 more people were wounded in the synchronized blasts. The Islamist militant outfit HuJI later confessed their involvement in the attack.
Meanwhile, another case of murder in connection with the same incident had disposed off in 2014 where the court awarded death sentence to eight accused, including Chief of HuJI Mufti Abdul Hannan.
Mufti Hannan, however, was hanged on Wednesday [April 12] night being convicted in another criminal case.
Interestingly, the Ramna bomb blast case was cracked after Mufti Hannan gave confessional statements before the court on November 19, 2006. The case remained stuck in the court for several years, but it got speed during the tenure of caretaker government. “One of the two cases has been disposed. The witnesses are not responding in the explosive case though the court issued summons for several times. For this reason, the trial procedure is being prolonged,” Dhaka Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Mohammad Abdullah Abu said.
Echoing the same, Special Public Prosecutor Abu Abdullah Bhuiyan said: “So far we assume, the witnesses have lost interest in this case after the completion of another case relating to the incident.” On the other hand, the Defence Lawyer Faruk Ahmed said the case has been delaying intentionally not producing the witnesses during trial procedure. Only two witnesses were present in the hearings in last two years… We also want that the case will be disposed off soon.”
According to the documents of the explosive case, after framing charge in 2009 seven witnesses gave their statements before the court. On February 2, 2014, the fresh charge was framed amending an act. After that, only two witnesses gave their statements in last two years. That means, out of 90 witnesses, only nine persons gave their statements before the court.
Earlier, two charges were filed with the Ramna police station; one for murdering people and another for illegal possession of explosives. On November 29, 2008, the Criminal Investigation Department of police submitted two charge-sheets accusing 14 persons including HuJI kingpin Mufti Hannan.
Eight years after the bomb attack, a Dhaka court in 2009 brought charges against Mufti Hannan, chief of HuJI and 13 others of his militant outfit. Of them, eight of the accused were sentenced to death in 2014.
Those sentenced included Mufti Hannan, Maulana Akbar Hossain, Arif Hasan Sumon, Maulana Tajuddin, Hafiz Jahangir Alam Badr, Maulana Abu Bakr alias Hafiz Selim Hawladar, Maulana Abdul Hai and Maulana Shafiqur Rahman. The other six, Shahadatullah Jewel, Maulana Sabbir, Shaokat Hossain alias Sheikh Farid, Maulana Abdur Rauf, Maulana Abu Taher and Maulana Yahia, were sentenced to life term in prison.
