Bomb attack in Batamul: 2 sentenced to life, others to 10 years

The High Court has sentenced Maulana Taj Uddin and Jewel, who were sentenced to death in the much-discussed 2001 bomb attack case at the Chhayanot’s birthday party in Batamul, Ramna, to life imprisonment. The other convicted defendants have been sentenced to 10 years each.

A High Court bench of Justice Mostafa Zaman Islam and Justice Nasrin Akhter announced the verdict on Tuesday (May 13).

In the verdict, the High Court reduced the sentences of 9 defendants to 10 years in prison and sentenced the death-row defendants Maulana Taj Uddin and Jewel to life imprisonment. They have also been fined Tk 50,000 each.

The sentences of seven defendants sentenced to death in this murder case have been reduced. The High Court has reduced the sentence of one of the seven defendants to life imprisonment and sentenced the remaining six to 10 years in prison.

Former Deputy Minister Abdus Salam Pintu’s brother Md. Taj Uddin’s sentence has been reduced to life imprisonment. Mufti Abdul Hannan, another accused sentenced to death by the trial court in this case, has already been hanged in another case (Sylhet grenade attack case). The High Court has declared his appeal as completed.

The High Court has upheld the sentence of Shahadatullah Jewel among the six accused sentenced to life imprisonment by the trial court. The sentences of the other three accused sentenced to life imprisonment have been reduced to 10 years. And their appeals have been declared completed as two accused died.

The accused’s lawyer said that since the sentence has been completed, there is no obstacle to the release of all the accused since they have been sentenced to 10 years. Meanwhile, the state has announced an appeal against the verdict.

Earlier on Thursday (May 08), the High Court bench comprising Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Nasrin Akhter announced the date for pronouncing the verdict. On that day, the court had announced that the verdict would be read out on Tuesday. He will inform whether the sentences of the accused will be upheld on that day.

The accused’s lawyers Shishir Monir and SM Shajahan were present in the court at that time.

Earlier, on June 23, 2014, the court sentenced 8 people including Harkatul Jihad’s top leader Mufti Abdul Hannan and Maulana Taj Uddin to death and 6 others to life imprisonment in this much-discussed case. Dhaka’s Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Ruhul Amin gave the verdict.

Apart from Mufti Hannan, the people sentenced to death are Akbar Hossain, Arif Hasan, former Deputy Minister Abdus Salam Pintu’s brother Md. Taj Uddin, Hafez Jahangir Alam Badar, Abu Bakr alias Hafez Selim Howlader, Abdul Hai and Shafiqur Rahman. However, Mufti Hannan’s death sentence in the Sylhet grenade attack case has already been implemented.

The people sentenced to life imprisonment by the trial court are Shahadatullah Jewel, Sabbir, Sheikh Farid, Abdur Rouf, Yahia and Abu Taher. The accused appealed against this verdict in the High Court.

Incidentally: On April 14, 2001, a bomb attack at the Chhayanaut New Year’s Eve celebration on Pohela Baishakh killed 10 people and injured many others.