C T Online Desk: The Appellate Division has yet to start hearing on the murder case filed over the tragic carnage at Pilkhana on February 25, 2009 when at least 74 people, including 57 army officers, were brutally killed.
On the other hand, the release of nearly 500 former members of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has remained stuck due to the delay in the trial of the blast case at the lower court.
Defence lawyer Aminul Islam said the blast case trial might be completed soon.
He added that 179 accused were acquitted of the murder case, but were not released from jail as the blast case trial had not ended. Moreover, those who had already served their 10-year sentence are also awaiting release. None of them got bail, either.
“Some 468 former BGB members can walk out of jail after the blast case trial ends,” the lawyer said on Friday.
Court sources say the case filed under the Explosive Substances Act is yet to be disposed of due to the negligence of the officials concerned and the snail’s pace of the trial proceedings.
On February 25, 2009, several hundred BDR (now Border Guard Bangladesh) men staged an armed revolt at the Darbar Hall of the force’s Pilkhana Headquarters in Dhaka. They killed 74 people, including 57 army officers.
The mutiny ended the following day with the surrender of firearms, ammunition, and grenades through a negotiation between the government and the BDR rebels.
Long trial proceedings
Three days after the massacre, two cases — one for murder and another under the Explosive Substances Act were filed with Lalbagh police station. They were later transferred to the New Market police station.
Though the trial proceedings in both cases started in August 2011, the blast case was put on hold to make way for the carnage case first. The proceedings of the case resumed only after the carnage case verdict in November 2013.
The trial of the murder case ended in 2013, with the trial court sentencing 151 personnel of the BDR and a civilian to death, 160 BDR men and two civilians to life imprisonment, and jailing 256 others for different terms.
Later in 2017, the High Court upheld the death penalty for 139 people, commuted the capital punishment of eight people to life sentences and acquitted four others. It also upheld the life imprisonment of 146 and jailed 196 for different terms.
Meanwhile, 468 accused of the blast case are languishing in jail as the trial is not completed even after 14 years of the incident.
Of the 468, a total of 278 BDR soldiers were acquitted of the murder case, while 190 were convicted of different terms of imprisonment. Although they were acquitted of the charges or concluded their jail term, they did not come out of jail due to the blast case.
