The families of the victims of abduction and murder of seven people by some Rapid Action Battalion members in Narayanganj eight year ago still cry for justice as the murder case has been awaiting an Appellate Division hearing for three years.
The families demand immediate execution of local Awami League leader Noor Hossain and 14 battalion members, including its then commanding officer in Narayanganj Lieutenant Colonel Tarek Sayeed Mohammad.
On April 27, 2014, some Rapid Action Battalion members allegedly picked up the then Narayanganj city panel mayor and local ALm leader Nazrul Islam, his associates Tazul Islam Rassel, Liton and Swapan, Nazrul’s driver Jahangir, lawyer Chandan Sarker and his driver Ibrahim from the Dhaka-Narayangnaj link road.
Their bodies were found floating in Shitalakhya River after a couple of days, triggering protests.
Nazrul’s widow Selina Islam Beauty told New Age on Tuesday, ‘We are still crying for justice and we do not know how long we have to wait to see the execution of the killers.’
She said that the attorney general told her in 2021 that the hearing of the appeals against High Court verdict in the case could not be held because of the closure of the courts during the Covid pandemic.
She says, ‘I will urge him to take initiative for a speedy disposal of the appeals of the convicts against the High Court verdict upholding the death sentences.’
The appeals of 20 of the 35 convicts have been pending with the Appellate Division for three years.
‘The Appellate Division may fix a date for the hearings of the appeals,’ Attorney general AM Amin Uddin said.
‘We are ready for the hearing and the government will seek no adjournment,’ he added.
‘We are now disappointed as the case has still been pending with the Appellate Division,’ said Shakhawat Hossain Khan, who prosecuted the case as the lawyer for the victim families as then president of the Narayanganj Bar Association.
‘There is no possibility of holding an early hearing of the appeals unless the government intervenes,’ he said.
Narayanganj District and Sessions Judge Court on January 16, 2017, sentenced Noor Hossain and 25 then RAB-11 members, including its commanding officer Tarek Sayeed Mohammad, also son-in-law of Awami League leader and former disaster management minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, and its officers Major Arif Hossain and Lieutenant Commander MM Masud Rana, to death for the seven murders.
The trial court jailed nine others to varying terms of imprisonment.
The High Court in the verdict on August 22, 2017 reduced sentences of 11— two RAB members and nine accomplices of Noor Hossain— and upheld varying terms of sentences of nine other RAB members.
RAB officers Tarek, Arif and Masud led the abductions of the seven people and committed the murders and dumped the victims’ bodies in the River Sitalakhya in exchange of money from Noor Hossain, the High Court said.
After the abduction from Narayanganj, the seven people were taken to a RAB office at Narsingdi and murdered on the way to Kanchpur bridge.
The bodies were carried by a trawler from Kanchpur and dumped in the river where the River Meghna meets the Sitalakhya at Munshiganj, according to case documents.
Three days later, on April 30, 2014, the bodies were found afloat.
The High Court in its verdict confirmed death sentences for Noor, Tarek, Arif, Masud, Lance Naik Md Belal Hossain, Habildar Md Emdadul Haque, Navy ROG-1 Md Arif Hossain, Lance Naik Hira Miah, Sepoy Abu Taiyeb, constable Sihabudidn, subinspector Purnendubala and four dismissed soldiers Md Abdul Alim, Mohiuddin Munshi, Al Amin and Tazul Islam.
The death sentences of two RAB members—dismissed sergeant Md Enamul Kabir and Sainik Asaduzzaman Noor— and Noor’s associates Mortuza Zaman Charchil, Mohamamd Ali, Mizanur Rahman Dipu, Md Raham Ali, Md Abul Basar, Salim, Md Sanaullah, Manager Sajahan and Jamal Uddin were commuted to life term.
Of the 15 condemned convicts, Noor, Tarek Sayeed, Arif, Masud Hossain, Emdadul Haque, Belal Hossain, Purnendrabala, Taiyeb and Al Amin filed 11 appeals against their sentences while Asaduzzaman, Enamul Kabir, and Noor’s five associates Jamaluddin, Abdul Bashar, Raham Ali, Salim and Ali Mohammad filed applications seeking permission to appeal against the High Court verdict that had commuted their sentence to life.
Two other applications were filed by Sainik Nuruzzaman challenging his 10-year jail terms and ASI Bazlur Rahman challenging his seven-year jail terms.
About the Appellate Division hearing, Munsurul Hoque Chowdhury, the lawyer for Tarek and Masud, told New Age, ‘I can do nothing until the chief justice posts the appeals on the list of cases for hearing.’-New Age
