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Govt moves to let off 7 indicted for murder

All charge-sheeted accused use ruling party links; one said to be home minister’s cousin, Sahara neither denies nor confirms

Chaitanya Chandra Halder and Kailash Sarkar
The government has made several moves in recent months to see a murder case withdrawn against seven charge-sheeted accused, citing political affiliations.
The latest came on April 19 when the metropolitan public prosecutor directed the special PP of Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 to take necessary steps towards withdrawal of the case, filed for the murder of Ashikur Rahman Khan Apu.
The special PP, Abu Abdullah, has told The Daily Star that an application will be submitted to the Tribunal-1 on April 27 for withdrawal of murder charges against all the seven accused.
The case was filed with the capital's Sutrapur Police Station on May 24, 2008, a day after Apu, a private university student, was shot dead and his two brothers were injured in Wari.
In October that year, charges were pressed against the seven—Monjurul Abedin Russell, Mahbub Alam, Mohammad Ali alias Munna, Nawshad Hossain Mollah alias Robin, Iftekhar Beg alias Jhalak, Biplob Chandra Das and Atiq Ahmed Shiplu.
Of the accused, Russell, Jhalak and Munna are behind bars, Biplob and Robin on the run, and Mahbub and Shiplu are out on bail.
Shiplu and Biplob are activists of Jubo League, the youth front associated with the ruling Awami League; and Munna is said to be a cousin of Home Minister Sahara Khatun.
Mahbub and Russell are charge-sheeted accused also in a case for a double murder in Tantibazar in 2005, and Jhalak is an accused in an arms case.
Contacted yesterday over the phone, Sahara Khatun declined to confirm if Munna is really her cousin.
She also would not make any comments about the case, which her ministry considers to be "politically motivated and meant for harassment".
Close relatives of the minister and Munna, however, said that their mothers are indeed siblings.
State Minister for Law Kamrul Islam, also head of the committee reviewing the "politically motivated cases", told The Daily Star, "I cannot remember if Munna is home minister's cousin, as I deal with 8,000-10,000 such cases."
Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikdar said that since he was not present in the last two meetings of the committee, he does not know of any move to save a cousin of the home minister.
Asked about separate moves to have charges dropped against seven individuals in a single case, the state minister for law said it is because the applications were submitted at different times by different people.
In the first move, the home ministry on July 5 last year decided to drop charge against Shiplu. The court, however, rejected the withdrawal petition on grounds that the trial was about to be completed.
Then on November 25, the committee for withdrawal of "political cases” decided to have the entire case withdrawn. The application to that end is pending with the court.
The next move came on January 25 this year when the government decided not to proceed with the trial of Biplob who has remained a fugitive since the murder.
Atia Khan Keya, complainant of the case and sister of the victim, told The Daily Star that their family is worried over the bid to withdraw charges against the accused.
"None of my brothers was involved with any political parties. How could the government portray the case as politically moti-
vated and try to withdraw it?" she asked.
Her mother Dr Tofatun Nahar said the accused attacked her sons, killing one and crippling the two other in front of her Hare Street house in Wari and in presence of the locals.
"The attack was meant to serve the purpose of my tenant Jhalak. And there was nothing political about it,” she said.
"My family is already in ruins. I have quit my job as a gynaecologist at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University because I was too demoralised to continue," said Dr Nahar.
To make life even more miserable, she added, the accused out on bail are issuing death threats.
Of those on the run, Biplob has fled to India during the last caretaker rule, said locals of Purbo Para of Suvadda village in South Keraniganj where his family home is.
Legal experts say the law does not allow any fugitives to petition with the authorities for withdrawal of murder charges against them.
The home secretary, however, differed. He said there is no legal bar to trying to have charges against an accused withdrawn, be he fugitive or behind bars.
On May 17, 2009, Biplob submitted a prayer to Dhaka district authorities, seeking withdrawal of the charge against him. He wrote, “I'm an active member of Jubo League. The case against me was filed during the BNP-Jamaat regime and the caretaker government rule as part of a conspiracy and [for] harassment.”
He made the claim of harassment by political rivals even though the case was filed during the last caretaker government rule.