Families of the victims of the Ramna Batamul bomb blast continue to wait for justice as two cases filed over the incident are yet to be disposed of 21 years later.
The banned militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJi) carried out the attack during the Chhayanaut program marking Bangla New Year on April 14, 2001. As many as 10 people were killed and over 50 others were injured.
A Dhaka court sentenced eight militants, including Mufti Hannan, to death and six others to life imprisonment in the murder case on June 23, 2014. However, the verdict is yet to be implemented as the cases have been pending with the High Court for appeals and death reference hearings.
The case, filed under the Explosives Substances Act, is yet to get past the trial court. Both cases were filed with Ramna police station.
Those sentenced to death are Mufti Abdul Hannan, Arif Hasan Sumon, Maulana Akbar Hossain, Maulana Tajuddin, Hafez Jahangir Alam Badal, Maulana Abu Bakar, Mufti Shafikur Rahman and Mufti Abdul Hai.
The six others are Shahadat Ullah Jewel, Hafez Maulana Abu Taher, Maulana Abdur Rauf, Maulana Sabbir Hossain, Maulana Yahiya and Maulana Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid.
Of the accused, Mufti Hannan was executed in 2017 in another case and five convicts -- Sumon, Jewel, Abu Taher, Rauf and Akbar -- are behind bars. The others are still on the run.
High Court sources said eight of the condemned men had filed separate appeals challenging the trial court verdict.
The hearing in the case started at a bench of the HC on January 17, 2017, but it was dropped from the cause-list due to a reformation of the bench later.
Later, the case awaited a death reference hearing at an HC bench comprising Justice Krishna Debnath and Justice ASM Abdul Mobin. But the bench was dismantled due to the promotion of one of the judges of the bench to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
When asked, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin said: “We will try to start hearings in the case. The judge of the bench in which the case was heard has gone to the Appellate Division. I will take the initiative for hearings to start after Eid.”
Defence lawyer Shishir Monir, said: “We want a hearing in the case but the state is taking time. Although there was a date for hearing on October 24 last year, the bench was later dismantled and the matter went to the chief justice, but no bench has been constituted till now.”
The case, filed under the Explosive Substance Act, is now pending with Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-1.
Dhaka court sources said the recording of depositions was concluded recently after a total of 54 prosecution witnesses testified in the case.
On April 10, the tribunal fixed April 20 for the placing of arguments by the prosecution.
Talking to Dhaka Tribune, Special Public Prosecutor Abu Abdullah Bhuyain said: “The trial is nearing its end in the blast case. We hope that the tribunal will deliver the verdict on completion of the arguments soon.”
The state lawyer added that there were a total of 14 accused in the case. Of them, seven are in jail, four accused are on the run and three others have died.
After the deadly bombing attack, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted the charge sheet in both cases against 14 militants, including HuJi chief Mufti Hannan, on November 30, 2008.
Two accused -- Mufti Hannan and Akbar -- admitted to carrying out the grisly attack on Pahela Baishakh.
