Eighteen long years have passed since the bombing at the Bangla New Year program at Dhaka’s Ramna Batamul, the case lodged under the Explosive Substances Act, moved little as the witnesses are not coming to testify despite repeated summons and warrants issued by the court.
“We have been able to examine only 26 out of the total 84 witnesses in around five years in the case lodged under the Explosive Substance Act. The witnesses are not appearing before the court even after the court issued a non-bailable warrant against them,” Dhaka Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Abdullah Abu told BSS on Friday (Apr 12).
He further said the accused and the witnesses in both the murder case and the case lodged under the explosive act are same and as the proceedings of the two cases did not go on concurrently, the proceedings of the second case got delayed.
Police, however, said they are trying their best to produce the witnesses. As the witnesses are ‘respectable persons’ police are only requesting them to come and testify before the court.
“We are executing the orders, through which summons and non-bailable warrant were issued against the witnesses. As the witnesses are respected people, we are requesting them to appear before the court. It would be disrespectful for them to be arrested and produced before the court,” Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Deputy Commissioner (DC) Masudur Rahman told BSS.
Defence counsel Faruk Ahammed too blamed the absence of witnesses for the delay in the case proceedings.
“We want to see the quick disposal of the case. The court through its verdict would decide who is guilty and who is innocent,” he added.
Additional metropolitan sessions’ judge court on Jun 23, 2014, sentenced eight people to death and six others to life imprisonment in the murder case lodged over the incident, where 10 innocent people were killed as several bombs were hurled at the Bangla New Year program on Apr 14, 2001.
Of the people, sentenced to death in the case, banned militant outfit Harqat-ul Jihad al-Islami (HuJI) chief Mufti Abdul Hannan was executed in 2017, in another case.
Dhaka speedy trial tribunal-1 charged 14 people including Mufti Hannan in the case lodged under the explosive act over the Ramna Batamul carnage on Sept 14, 2014.