13 others awarded life term for killing tailor Bishwajit
Law enforcers take Rafiqul Islam Shakil (in black shirt) to jail, a prime convict of Biswajit murder, from a court in Dhaka today. The court awarded eight Bangladesh Chhatra League men death penalty for the killing. Inset: Shakil, holding a machete while hacking Biswajit on 9 December last year. Photo: Amran Hossain
Eight leaders and activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) were awarded death penalty and 13 others life term for killing tailor Bishwajit Das in old part of Dhaka a year ago.
Judge ABM Nizamul Haque of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-4 pronounced the judgment in a jam-packed courtroom around 12:25pm today in the sensational murder that shook the whole nation for the brutality in broad daylight.
Coincidentally, both the killing and justice came during the opposition-called countrywide blockade programme.
The BCL men of Jagannath University stabbed dead Biswajit Das, 24, in public on his way to Amantron tailoring shop at Shankharibazar in Old Dhaka during the opposition’s countrywide road-blockade programme on December 9 last year.
Of the convicts, eight are now in jail while 13 others are on the run.
This December 9, 2012 photo shows Bangladesh Chhatra League men beating up Bishwajit Das in Old Dhaka during a blockade enforced by BNP-led 18-party alliance.
The BCL men who were awarded death penalty are: Rafiqul Islam Shakil, Mahfuzur Rahman Nahid, Emdadul Haque Emdad, GM Rasheduzzaman Shaon, Md Shaiful Islam, Kayyum Mia Tipu, Rajon Talukdar and Noor-e-Alam Limon.
Of them, Talukdar and Limon are on the run.
The lifers are: AHM Kibria, Saiful Islam, Golam Mustofa, Alauddin, Obaidul Quader Tahsin, Imran Hossain, Khondoker Md Yunus Ali, Tarique Bin Zohor, Azizur Rahman, Al Amin Sheikh, Monirul Haque Pavel, Mosharraf Hossain and Kamrul Hasan.
Of them, only Kibria and Mostafa are now behind the bars.
During the 10-munite proceedings of the day, the court observed that the Das killing case is quite different from the others. It took place in the broad daylight instead of night which was heinous and deplorable killing, the court added.
If the convicts get released on the political ground, it will be unjust for the family of the victims and such kind of gory killings will take place in time to time, the court added.
Mistaking Das for a blockader, the BCL activists of Jagannath University unit swooped on him in front of Bahadur Shah Park and hacked him with machetes and beat him with iron rods and hockey sticks on the fateful day of last year.
Police pressed charges against the 21 BCL men on March 5, and the tribunal framed charges against them on June 2.
The trial of the case began on June 14 with the deposition of the complainant, Sub-Inspector Jalal Uddin of Sutrapur Police Station.
Source: The Daily Star
