SM Jahangir and Abdul Qader Bhuiyan Jewel
A total of 20 leaders and activists of main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party including the party leaders SM Jahangir and Abdul Qader Bhuiyan Jewel were on Wednesday awarded different terms of jail in two cases filed for committing violence in Dhaka in 2013.
Judge Mamunur Rahman Siddique of Dhaka metropolitan special tribunal-10 sentenced 11 leaders and activists of BNP including former Juba Dal Dhaka north unit president SM Jahangir to suffer seven years in jail in a case filed with Uttara East Oolice Station 10 years ago.
The other convicts are SI Tutul, Monir Hossain, Nazim, Ashraful, Masud, Shahadat Hossain, Shaheen, Engineer Fakrul, Salam and Naeem.
The court, however, acquitted the other 62 BNP leaders and activists from the charges as it did not find their involvement in the charges, said defence lawyer Syed Nazrul Islam.
The cases statement said that the convicts illegally gathered in front of Azampur Rail Gate area in the capital’s Uttara and blasted crude bombs during a blockade called by BNP-led alliance on November 26, 2013.
Meanwhile, Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Saiful Islam sentenced nine BNP leaders and activists including the party’s central leader and Chhatra Dal former president Abdul Qader Bhuiyan Jewel to three years and three months’ imprisonment in a case filed with Paltan police station in 2013.
The other convicts are Iqbal Hossain, Shahadat Hossain, Leon Hossain, Uttam Kumar, Bhasani Jahangir, Mizanur Rahman, Ariful Haque and Rubel. All are the leaders and activists of BNP and its associate organisations.
The court also issued arrest warrants against the convicts as all of them were absent during delivery of the verdict.
According to the case document, on November 3, 2013, around 15 to 20 people brought out a procession during a blockade programme called by BNP-led alliance and they torched a private car in Naya Paltan area in the capital.
Later, sub-inspector Munibur Rahman filed a case with Paltan police station over the incident.
New Age
