Staff Reporter :
The hearing on the death reference (approval of death sentences) and the appeals of the convicts in the Ramna Batamul bombing case, which occurred during Chhayanaut’s Bengali New Year celebration more than two decades ago, has concluded. The High Court is expected to announce its verdict at any time.
On Tuesday (February 18), after hearings from both sides, the High Court bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Nasreen Akter kept the case under “waiting for judgment”
Senior lawyers SM Shahjahan, Sarwar Ahmed, and Mohammad Shishir Monir represented the defense, while Deputy Attorney General Sultana Akter Ruby represented the state. According to legal experts, the verdict could be announced on any day.
The bombing, which took place on April 14, 2001, at the Ramna Batamul celebration, killed nine people on the spot, with one more later dying in the hospital.
On the same day, Sergeant Amol Chandra Chanda of the Nilkhet Police Post filed two cases under murder and explosives laws at the Ramna Police Station.
On November 30, 2008, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted a charge sheet accusing 14 individuals in both cases.
After witness testimonies, the trial court delivered its verdict in the murder case on June 23, 2014, sentencing eight people, including the leader of the banned militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad (HuJI), Mufti Abdul Hannan, to death and six others to life imprisonment.
Apart from Mufti Hannan, the other death row convicts are:
Akbar Hossain ,Arif Hasan Suman ,Md. Tajuddin (brother of former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu) ,Hafiz Jahangir Alam Badr ,Abu Bakar (alias Hafiz Selim Howlader), Abdul Hai ,Shafiqul Rahman Mufti Hannan’s death sentence was already carried out in the Sylhet grenade attack case.
The life-sentenced convicts are:
Shahadatullah Jewel ,Sabbir ,Sheikh Farid ,Abdur Rouf ,Yahia ,Abu Taher
In cases where a trial court sentences an accused to death, the execution requires High Court approval through a process known as “death reference.” After the trial court’s verdict, the death reference was sent to the High Court, while the convicts also filed appeals and jail appeals.
Although hearings began in 2016, the case remained unresolved across three different High Court benches.
Finally, on December 8 last year, the case was re-listed for hearing, which has now concluded. The High Court will announce the verdict soon.
