The judgement in the historic Jail Killing Case will now be delivered on October 20 after the verdict was deferred twice on September 7 and September 21.
Judge Mohammad Motiur Rahman of the Court of Metropolitan Sessions Judge, Dhaka yesterday fixed the date after submission of a report the same day by a three-member commission that said witness Saifuddin Ahmed is unfit for deposition before court or elsewhere.
The commission also asked court to drop him as a witness.
Court accepted the written report on the health condition of 84-year-old Saifuddin, which was signed by commission members Public Prosecutor Abdullah Mahmud Hassan, Advocate ABM Sharfuddin Mukul and Officer-in-charge of Sutrapur Police Station Awlad Hossain.
The verdict was deferred on September 7 because of the illness of the judge and again on September 21 due to a last-minute court order for deposition of Saifuddin.
Deferring the judgement that was likely to come on September 21, about 29 years after the brutal assassination of four national leaders
Verdict
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inside Dhaka Central Jail, the judge granted the petition for deposition of Saifuddin.
Court summoned Saifuddin for appearing before it on September 29, but a bed-ridden Saifuddin, the then deputy superintendent of police and the second investigation officer (IO), failed to turn up.
The court also issued a warrant of arrest against Saifuddin and formed a three-member commission to assess the 84-year-old's health condition, asking it to submit a report by yesterday on if he is fit for deposition.
The commission members after visiting Saifuddin's house on October 5 reported to court that the witness in question is physically and mentally unfit for a judicial statement. They also urged court to consider the arrest warrant against Saifuddin as not served.
The PP and defence lawyer Mukul submitted the report and made a brief submission about Saifuddin's inability for deposition after Judge Motiur Rahman took his seat at 10:53am yesterday.
The PP appealed to court to fix a date for the verdict, while Mukul told court they do not have any reservations about court's fixing a fresh date for verdict. Mukul also told court to summon the case diary of Saifuddin and take it into consideration before taking a decision in the interest of fair trial and justice.
The PP said he would submit the case diary to court by yesterday afternoon.
"Finally, we have got a date for verdict, now I am happy," said ruling BNP lawmaker KM Obaidur Rahman, an accused in the case who earlier expressed grievance about the deferral and termed it a conspiracy, yesterday immediately after the judge left court.
Except for accused Nurul Islam Monzoor, who is out on bail, four other accused on bail and three in jail were present in the dock yesterday. Monzoor's counsel told court that his client is sick.