It’s been nearly two decades since the bomb attack at Ramna Park on the eve of Bangla New Year in 2001.
Police filed two cases over the attack — one for the killings and the other under the Explosives Act.
Although the trial court has given its verdict of the murder case, the appeal hearing and death reference hearing are still pending.
On Jun 23, 2014, a trial court gave death penalty to eight people including Harqat-ul Jihad al-Islami (HuJI) chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and Mowlana Tajuddin the brother of BNP leader and former state minister Abdus Salam Pintu.
Six others were handed life sentences and Mufti Hannan was executed in 2017, in another case.
On the other hand, the case filed under the Explosives Act is still in a limbo due to the reluctance of the witnesses to appear in court.
Although the murder has been disposed of in the trial court, prosecutors allege the case lodged under the Explosive Substance Act cannot move forward as the witnesses don’t appear in court.
They say that they have received only 26 out of the 84 witnesses.
“The witnesses are reluctant to appear in court even after the court issued a non-bailable warrant against them,” Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 counsel Abu Abdullah told Bangla Tribune.
Meanwhile, the defendant’s counsel Faruk Ahmed said, “The accused have been in jail for years without any trial. This isn’t acceptable.”
He reiterated that the case cannot be disposed of as the rest of the witnesses are not appearing.
Ten people were killed after a bomb had exploded during leading cultural troupe Chhayanaut’s programme at the capital’s Ramna Batamul in the morning of Apr 14, 2001.
Investigations found that Islamist militants had targeted the Pahela Baishakh event as they considered it ‘anti-Islamic’.