It was nobody’s negligence; the four activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League who are among 13 accused in Jahangirnagar University student Zubair Ahmed murder case fled from the courtroom due to lack of coordination between the police and the court concerned.
The two-member investigation committee formed to look into the incident in its report said such incidents would repeat if steps were not taken immediately to address lack of coordination.
The committee submitted the probe report to the court a couple of days ago.
Khandakar Ashiqul Islam, Khan Mohammad Rais, Mahbub Akram and Ishtiaq Arup appeared before the Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal 4 on February 23 for a regular hearing in the case.
The court that day was set to give order on a bail cancellation plea submitted by the prosecution for violating bail condition. As soon as their bails were cancelled, the four accused fled from the courtroom in front of lawyers and the police.
The court police were not informed beforehand about the order, the court’s public prosecutor said.
The appeal was lodged after the four accused and two others were proved to have attacked two students of the university on the court premises who went there to observe the trial proceedings.
The probe committee was formed with Deputy Commissioner (south) of the Detective Branch of Police Krishna Pada Roy as its convener. The other member was Lalbagh division’s Additional Deputy Commissioner Abdus Salam.
When contacted, the DB official said the four accused were on bail and they came to the court for hearing. Therefore, the police were not aware about the court’s decision of cancelling their bails.
“This is why the police are not guilty. The court is also not guilty for the incident,” he said while refusing to give details about such observation.
Another high official at the DB told the Dhaka Tribune that the court only knows and takes decision about bail or punishment after analysing offence. “If there is possibility of cancelling bail of an accused, then the court informs the police beforehand.”
On such instructions, the prosecution department of the police takes security measures.
On the day of the incident, the court did not ask for security from the police.
Zubair, an honours final year student of English department and a former Chhatra League activist, was tortured and stabbed by the accused on January 8, 2012. He succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in the capital the following day.
The university authorities filed the murder case the same day with Ashulia police station.
Seven of the 13 accused were expelled from the campus for life while the rest six for two years after a probe body of the university found their direct involvement in the murder.
