Staff Reporter :
In the much-discussed case of the 2001 bomb attack during the Bengali New Year celebrations at Ramna Batamul, the High Court (HC) on Tuesday commuted the death penalties of Maulana Taj Uddin and Jewel to life imprisonments. While each of the other convicts was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
A High Court bench comprising Justice Mostafa Zaman Islam and Justice Nasreen Akhter began announcing the verdict at 11:30 AM for the second consecutive day.
Earlier on Thursday, the court had partially delivered the verdict reading out testimonies and cross-examinations and set May 13 for the remaining announcement.
At the start of the verdict announcement, the court stated that the events and witness testimonies would be reviewed that day, and the rest of the verdict would be announced on a later date.
At that point, defense lawyer SM Shahjahan asked, “So the order part (decision) of the verdict will not be given today?” The court responded, “No, the order part will not be given on Thursday.”
Previously, after completing hearings on the death reference and appeals of the accused, the High Court had kept the case as “CAV” (Curia Advisari Vult – meaning verdict pending) on February 18.
Later on April 30, the case appeared on the court’s cause list for an order. On that day, the court fixed Thursday (May 8) for the announcement of the verdict.
