The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has upheld the High Court verdict that acquitted BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman and other accused in the August 21 grenade attack cases.
A six-member bench headed by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed delivered the verdict on Thursday, dismissing the state’s appeal against the High Court ruling.
The judgment came with certain corrections and withdrawals of portions of the earlier High Court decision, along with observations from the apex court.
The hearing on the state appeal concluded on August 21, with the verdict scheduled for September 4. Delivering the unanimous decision, the court session began at 10:05 am and the judgment was announced at 10:18 am.
On August 21, 2004, a grenade attack targeted an Awami League rally on Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka, addressed by party president Sheikh Hasina. The attack left 24 people dead and more than a hundred others injured.
In 2018, Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 sentenced former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, former deputy minister for education Abdus Salam Pintu, and 17 others to death. Tarique Rahman and 18 others were handed life imprisonment, while 11 received varying prison terms along with fines.
The case records, including the tribunal’s verdict, were forwarded to the High Court in 2018 as part of a death reference review. Under law, any death sentence issued by a lower court requires High Court confirmation before execution. Alongside, the convicts may file appeals and related petitions, which are generally heard together with the death reference.
Hearing on the death reference, appeals, and jail petitions began at the High Court on October 31, 2023. On December 1, the court declared the supplementary charge sheet and subsequent trial illegal, setting aside the tribunal’s verdict. The High Court rejected the death reference, accepted the appeals of the convicts, and acquitted all the accused including Tarique Rahman and former state minister Babar.
With Thursday’s judgment, the Appellate Division has now affirmed that acquittal.
