The High Court (HC) has recently withdrawn its stay order on the trial of the gruesome murder of Himadri Majumdar Himu, clearing the way for the resumption of the case.
Himu, 18, an A-level student of Summerfield School and College, was brutally killed in Chittagong city’s Panchlaish area in 2012.
On August 7, the HC bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Jafar Ahmed withdrew the stay order on the trial following the plaintiff’s plea. The court order reached the 4th Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court in Chittagong yesterday, court sources said.
Earlier on July 21, the same bench stayed the trial of the case for six months following a petition filed by Shahadat Hossain Shaju, an accused in the murder case, the sources added.
Advocate Anupam Chakraborty, public prosecutor of the 4th Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court, said the case was shifted to the Speedy Trial Tribunal on July 16.
“The defence counsel did not mention it in the plea submitted before the High Court. So, the HC was sending its orders to the 4th Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court. However, the HC is now sending its orders to Speedy Trial Tribunal,” he said.
He added: “Now there is no bar to resuming the trial. The tribunal judge will fix the date for the next hearing after submission of the HC order before the court.”
The cross-examination of the 6th prosecution witness Jawad Ali Chowdhury, the general secretary of anti-drug organisation “Shikor,” was going on, but the trial was halted due to the HC stay order.
Himu was allegedly pushed off the roof of a four-storey building by his friends in Panchlaish Residential Area on April 27, 2012 after he was tortured by German Doberman dogs.
He died in Dhaka after fighting for his life for 26 days. He was reportedly killed for his anti-drug activities involving with anti-drug organisation “Shikor.”
Asit Das, the maternal uncle of the deceased, lodged a case with Panchlaish police station, accusing five people.
On September 30, 2012, police submitted the charge sheet of the case, accusing Himu’s friend Junaid Ahmed Riad and Riad’s father Shah Selim Tipu and friends Shahadat Hossain Shaju, Mahbub Ali Khan Danny and Zahidul Islam Shaon. They were indicted for murder on February 3 this year.
Tipu and Shaju are out on bail, but the others are on the run, the sources said, adding that a total of five prosecution witnesses had given their depositions till date.
