Dhaka magistrate courts on Thursday sentenced 135 more leaders and activists of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its associate bodies and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami to different terms of imprisonment in five cases filed on charges of violence in the capital.
Metropolitan magistrate Mohammad Sheikh Sadi sentenced 93 BNP people to three years’ imprisonment in a case filed with the Turag police station in the capital in 2018.
The court also fined Tk 4,000 to each convict, or 14 more days in jail in default.
According to the case document, the case was filed with the police station on September 18, 2018 on charges of creating violence in the area from a procession brought out by BNP leaders and activists demanding the release of the party’s chairperson, Khaleda Zia.
Meanwhile, metropolitan magistrate Sultan Sohag Uddin sentenced 15 BNP people to six months in jail in a case filed with Bangshal police station in the capital on charges of violence in 2013.
The court also acquitted 47 accused, saying that the charges brought against them were not proved.
The case was filed on charges of creating violence during a hartal called by the BNP in the area in November 2013.
A total of 16 witnesses testified before the court in the case.
In another verdict, metropolitan magistrate Mohammad Jasim sentenced eight BNP people to 30 months in jail in a case filed with the Mirpur police station in November 2018.
The convicts are Imran, Abdul Quader, Mizanur Rahman, Asif Hossain Rana, Amir Hossain, Kamrul Islam, Aktar Hossain, and Manik Dutta.
The court acquitted two other accused, saying that the charges brought against them were not proven.
On November 6, 2018, a case was filed with the police station on charges of creating violence during a BNP procession in the Mirpur area.
Later, police submitted a charge sheet against 10 BNP people in the case.
In another violence case, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ahmed Humayun Kabir sentenced six BNP people to 18 months in jail in a case filed with Hazaribagh police station in the capital in 2010.
The convicts are Abdul Aziz, Sanaullah, Swapon, Abdul Latif, Hasu Miah, and Abul Khair.
The court, however, acquitted 51 accused, saying that charges brought against them were not proved during the trial in the case filed on charges of violence in the area in November 2010.
Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Md Ataullah sentenced 13 leaders and activists of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami to two years’ imprisonment in a case filed with the Rampura police station in the capital.
The convicts are Khan Matiur Rahman, Abdul Quader, Md Lokman Khan, Zahirul Islam, Md Main Uddin, Ahsan Habib, Hafez Abdul Qayyum, Iqbal Kabir Nipu, Shakwat Hossain Rifat, Mizanur Rahman Galib, Azizullah Bhuiyan, Lutfar Rahman, and Saleh Ahmed.
The court also fined Tk 5,000 to each of the convicts, or one more month in jail in default.
In October 2018, police filed a case with the Rampura police station against the Jamaat people on charges of violence in the area.
The pro-BNP lawyers said that the convictions of leaders and activists of the BNP and its associate bodies have significantly increased in recent weeks ahead of the January 7 national election.
At least 1,460 opposition political leaders and activists, mostly from the BNP, were awarded jail terms in different cases by different courts in Dhaka between August 1 and December 21.
The disposal of what the BNP called political cases intensified after prime minister Sheikh Hasina, at a programme on October 21, asked lawyers to take prompt measures for quick disposal of the cases related to arson attacks.
Most of the cases that ended in the conviction of opposition people were filed either by the police or supporters of the ruling Awami League between 2013 and 2018.
BNP leaders termed the cases, filed mostly under the Special Powers Act, the Explosive Substances Act, and the Penal Code, among others, as ‘politically motivated.’
New Age
