A tribunal yesterday acquitted all the 13 accused in Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leader Jamir Uddin murder case since the prosecution had failed to prove the charges.
The accused are all leaders and activists of radical Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student body of Jamaat-e-Islami.
None from Jamir’s family was present when Chittagong Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal Judge Reza Tarique Ahmed passed the order.
Tribunal’s prosecutor Md Ayub Khan said they would decide about challenging the verdict at the High Court after discussing the matter with the victim’s family.
The acquitted are notorious criminal Nasir Uddin, Kazi Osman Gani, Harun-or-Rashid, Delwar Hossain, Sahabuddin, Shawkat Hossain, Nurul Islam, Ibrahim, Anwar Hossain, Moksed Alam, Abdul Mannan, Ahsanul Azad and Abdul Kuddus.
Two other accused – Humayun Kabir and Kuddus – died during the trial period.
Of the accused, only Nasir is now in jail. He is facing several other cases and so will not be released even after the acquittal.
According to the case, Jamir, then general secretary of Chittagong Polytechnic Institute Students’ Union, and Jahangir Farid, convener of the campus unit, were shot dead around 11:30am on November 20, 1994 as Chhatra Shibir launched an armed attack to take the control over the campus.
Jamir’s elder brother Aziz Uddin lodged the murder case with Panchlaish police the same day. The family of another victim, Farid, filed a separate case. Details about this case could not be found.
CMP Assistant Commissioner (Panchlaish circle) ATM Jasim Uddin, also investigation officer of the case, submitted charge sheet against the 15 persons on February 2, 1995.
The 15 Chhatra Shibir men were indicted on August 23, 2000 but the trial proceedings had been stopped halted in an order of the High Court on April 15, 2004. The trial resumed on August 26 last year.
Only nine out of the 21 prosecution witnesses testified in the case.
Prosecutor Ayub said four key witnesses, including two police officers, had died before giving depositions while four others are abroad.
He also said the delay by 10 years had damaged the merit of the case while most of the nine witnesses refrained from mentioning the names of the accused in their statements.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” the prosecutor told the Dhaka Tribune to describe the case.