The hearing is underway on the state’s appeal against the High Court verdict that acquitted all accused in the August 21, 2004, grenade attack case, including death-row convict former Home Affairs minister Lutfozzaman Babar and life-term convict BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman.
On Tuesday morning, the Appellate Division bench, led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, began the third day of hearings. Deputy Attorney General Abdullah Al Mahmud represented the state, while senior lawyers SM Shahjahan and Mohammad Shishir Manir appeared for the defendants.
On December 1, 2023, the High Court bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman (now an Appellate Division judge) and Justice Md Nayeet Hossain acquitted all accused. The full verdict was released on December 19, after which the state filed separate leave-to-appeal petitions.
On June 1, the court granted the state permission to appeal against the High Court verdict, leading to the current hearings.
On August 21, 2004, a brutal grenade attack targeted an Awami League rally on Bangabandhu Avenue, with then-opposition leader Sheikh Hasina narrowly survived the attack.
The attack killed 24 people, including Ivy Rahman, Women’s Affairs secretary of Awami League and wife of late president Zillur Rahman, and injured over 300 party members. The next day, two cases were filed under murder and explosives acts at Motijheel Police Station.
On June 11, 2008, during the caretaker government, charges were framed against 22 individuals, including BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu, his brother Maulana Tajuddin, and Huji leader Mufti Abdul Hannan.
After the Awami League came to power in 2009, the court ordered further investigation. On July 3, 2011, a supplementary charge sheet accused 30 more individuals, bringing the total number of accused to 52.
Among them, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, Mufti Hannan, and his associate Shahidul Islam Bipul were executed in other cases, reducing the number of accused in this case to 49.