Court Correspondent :
The High Court Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday upheld death for two convicts while commuted the death sentences of four others and acquitted two, all of them were earlier sentenced to death by the sub-ordinate court for killing Bishwajit Das in old Dhaka.
Death sentences of former Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists Rafiqul Islam Shakil and Rajon Talukder were upheld in the murder case. Previously death sentenced Mahfuzur Rahman Nahid, Emdadul Haque Emdad, GM Rasheduzzaman Shaon and Noor-e-Alam Limon were given life imprisonment. Of the convicts Rajon and and Limon are on the run.
Death sentenced Md Saiful Islam and Qayum Mia Tipu have been acquitted in the case. The court also acquitted two others who were given life imprisonment. But, no comments were made about 11 convicts who were given life imprisonment.
The bench of Justice Md Ruhul Quddus and Justice Bhishmadev Chakrabortty began pronouncing the verdict at 10. 50 am.
On December 9, 2012, a number of cocktails exploded in front of Bahadur Shah Park as the opposition 18-party alliance enforced a road blockade programme.
Hearing the sounds of cocktail explosion, BCL activists of Jagannath University unit rushed to the spot wielding sticks and chased some people suspecting them to be pickets.
At one stage, they caught Bishwajit Das, 24, proprietor of Amantron Tailors in Shakharibazar area of Sutrapur, who was passing through the area. The BCL activists stabbed and bit him heavily.
Bishwajit was rushed to Mitford Medical College Hospital in critical condition where he succumbed to his injuries later. The victim’s family members claimed that he was never involved with any political party.
The trial of the case began in July 2013. On December 18, 2013, Judge ABM Nizamul Haque of Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal-4 sentenced eight BCL activists to death and 13 others to life-term imprisonment. Of the eight, two are still on the run while the rest are behind bar. Only two of those given life sentences are in the prison now.
Eight death sentenced convicts were Rafiqul Islam Shakil, Mahfuzur Rahman Nahid, Emdadul Haque Emdad, GM Rasheduzzaman Shaon, Md Saiful Islam, Qayum Mia Tipu, Rajon Talukdar and Noor-e-Alam Limon.
Life-term convicts AHM Kibria, Saiful Islam Saiful, Golam Mustafa, Alauddin, Obaidul Quader Tahsin, Imran Hossain, Khandaker Md Yunus Ali, Tarique Bin Zohur, Azizur Rahman, Al Amin Sheikh, Monirul Haque Pavel, Mosharraf Hossain and Kamrul Hasan were in the prison.
