The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has fixed 8 December for hearing appeals in the murder case of Bishwajit Das, who was hacked to death in Old Dhaka during a blockade enforced by the BNP-led 18-party alliance in 2012.
Appellate Division Judge-in-Chamber Justice Md Rezaul Haque fixed the date on Monday.
Attorney General Md Ruhul Quddus Kazol took part in the hearing for the state.
Earlier, the prosecution filed an application with the Appellate Division seeking a quick hearing of the appeal in the widely discussed murder case. The application appeared on the court’s cause list for hearing on Monday, after which the court set the date for the hearing.
Trial court and HC verdicts
On 18 December 2013, Dhaka Fast Track Tribunal-4 Judge ABM Nizamul Haque sentenced eight of the 21 accused to death and the remaining 13 to life imprisonment.
The court also fined each of the 13 life-term convicts Tk20,000, with an additional year of rigorous imprisonment in default of payment.
For their involvement in an unlawful assembly, the same 13 convicts received an additional six months’ imprisonment and a Tk500 fine each, with 15 more days of rigorous imprisonment in default.
Following the verdict, the death references were sent to the High Court for confirmation, while the convicts filed appeals challenging their sentences.
On 6 August 2017, the High Court upheld the death sentences of Rafiqul Islam Shakil and Rajon Talukder, while acquitting Saiful Islam and Kaiyum Miya of the charges carrying the death penalty.
It commuted the death sentences of Mahfuzur Rahman Nahid, Emdadul Haq Emdad, GM Rashaduzzaman Shawon and Mir Nure Alam Limon to life imprisonment.
The High Court also acquitted AHM Kibria and Golam Mostafa, who had received life sentences from the trial court.
However, it upheld the life sentences of 11 absconding convicts who had not appealed against the trial court verdict.
They are Khandaker Yunus Ali, Tareq Bin Zohar Tamal, Alauddin, Obaidul Kader Tahsin, Imran Hossain, Azizur Rahman, Al Amin Sheikh, Rafiqul Islam, Monirul Haque Pavel, Kamrul Hasan and Mosharraf Hossain.
Both the prosecution and defence subsequently challenged the High Court verdict before the Appellate Division.
How Bishwajit was killed
Bishwajit, a tailor shop owner, was hacked and beaten to death near Bahadur Shah Park in Old Dhaka on 9 December 2012 by leaders and activists of Chhatra League, now a banned organisation, who suspected him of being a Chhatra Shibir activist.
He was walking from his residence in Laxmibazar to his shop in Shankhari Bazar when a group of Chhatra League activists attacked him with sharp weapons.
Bishwajit tried to escape but collapsed at the entrance to Shankhari Bazar Road.
During the investigation, Shakil, Shawon and Nahid gave confessional statements before a court, saying Shakil had carried a meat cleaver and Rajon a dagger, while others were armed with iron rods and sticks.
A rickshaw puller named Ripon took the critically injured Bishwajit to Mitford Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Bishwajit was the son of Ananta Das of Daspara Moholla in Bhojeshwar village under Naria upazila of Shariatpur.
A murder case was filed with Sutrapur Police Station on the day of the attack. On 5 March 2013, the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police submitted a charge sheet against 21 leaders and activists of the Jagannath University unit of Chhatra League.
The case was subsequently transferred to the Fast Track Tribunal for trial.
