A Dhaka court is set to deliver verdict in Jahangirnagar University student Zubair Ahmed murder case today, amid blockade and hartal, with only seven out of the 13 accused in jail custody.
The date was rescheduled as the police on the previous date, February 4, had not produced the accused from Dhaka Central Jail on Nazimuddin Road citing security reasons.
Judge ABM Nizamul Haque of the Speedy Trial Tribunal 4 then deferred the verdict and ordered the prosecution to ensure presence of the accused. All the 13 accused are batchmates (2007-08 session) of Zubair and activists of Chhatra League, the student wing of ruling Awami League.
Acting special public prosecutor of the tribunal Taslima Yasmin Dipa yesterday said they had taken preparation for the case.
Nazmus Sakib Tanu, Md Mazharul Islam, Md Mahmudul Hasan Masud, Md Kamruzzaman Shohag, Shafiul Alam Shetu, Abhinandan Kundu and Md Nazmul Hussain Plabon are now in jail. Four accused – Khandaker Ashikul Islam, Khan Mohammad Rois, Ishtiaque Mehboob Aroop and Mahabub Akram – fled the court on February 23 last year. Two others – Rashedul Islam Raju and Md Zahid Hasan – have been on the run since January 23 the same year.
English final year student Zubair, a former Chhatra League activist, succumbed to his injuries on January 9, 2012 at a city hospital. He was beaten and stabbed indiscriminately the previous afternoon on the campus by the 13 accused and their aides after coming out of the new Arts Faculty building. It was his last exam.
Following the incident, the university authorities filed a murder case with Ashulia police against Ashik, Raju and Rois.
On January 30 the same year, seven of them were expelled from the university for life, while six others for two years after the authorities found their direct involvement in the murder. They were also declared unwanted on the campus. The names of 10 other accused were added after the expulsion order.
Even though one year has passed, police have no clue about the six fugitive accused.
However, some of them reportedly visit the campus regularly despite having been expelled.
Family members of the victim demand justice for the brutal political murder terming it pre-planned. Current and former students of the university under the banner of “Shontrasher Biruddhe Jahangirnagar” have also been staging demonstrations since the murder demanding exemplary punishment to stop recurrence of violence on the campus.