Bangabandhu Verdict Released :SC slams the way killers treated Terms sheltering, protecting murderers great crime; comes down hard on 'embarrassed' judges The Supreme Court in its full judgement of Bangabandhu murder case vehemently criticised the moves by subsequent governments after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for barring trial of the heinous crime and rather promoting the killers to higher or diplomatic posts. The apex court termed the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members a great crime against humanity, mankind and civilisation. "A murderer is always a murderer and a terrorist is always a terrorist and is enemy to mankind and humanity and an offender in the eye of the law. To protect and shelter such killers is a great crime, a great sin and sin spares none," said Justice Md Abdul Aziz of the five-member SC bench, which dealt the historic criminal case, in his portion of the 412-page judgment. The signed copy of the full judgment was made available yesterday after a month of delivering the verdict by the bench in an open court headed by Justice Md Tafazzul Islam, who has recently been appointed as the chief justice. "I find the accused including the appellants in a planned manner committed the heinous crime with their knowledge of the consequences. And therefore, they do not deserve any special sympathy in awarding the sentence," commented the senior-most Judge of the bench Justice Tafazzul analysing judgments of many criminal cases in different countries. On November 19, the Appellate Division upheld the death sentence to a dozen killers earlier handed down by the High Court. The verdict removed the darkness that had hung over the nation for 34 years following the heinous assassination of Bangabandhu and his wife, two daughters-in-law, three sons including 10-year-old Sheikh Russell and a brother on August 15, 1975. That day the court gave a "short order" dismissing the appeal petitions of five convicts against the third judgment of the High Court that gave capital punishment to them and seven others. The court now finalised its full judgment where three judges of the five-member bench -- Justice Aziz, Justice Md Muzammel Hossain and Justice SK Sinha -- gave their own observations besides agreeing with the judgment and order of Justice Tafazzul, who has written 134 pages of the total judgment as the author judge. The other member of the bench, Justice BK Das, did not make any separate observation but agreed with the judgment and order of the author judge. Justice Md Muzammel Hossain in his observation said, "It is a pity that the surviving family members of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the nation, as a whole, had to wait for about long 34 years to get justice by disposing of the criminal case of the gruesome murder." He said after the killing of Bangabandhu the then government of Khandaker Moshtaque Ahmed promulgated the Indemnity Ordinance, 1975 and the subsequent governments took some other steps to stop initiation of any criminal case in respect of the gruesome murders of August 15. "Having gone through the evidence of the witnesses and the materials on record, we have been shocked to notice that the then government of Khandaker Moshtaque Ahmed and the subsequent governments, who were the beneficiaries of the 1975 killings, to the utter surprise and dismay of the nation as a whole and the civilised society of the world rewarded the murderers of the 15th August, 1975," Justice Muzammel observed. "Being dismissed army officers, the convicts were illegally appointed in the government service and subsequently absorbed permanently in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for employment in various Bangladesh missions abroad. This undermined the constitutional process and fundamental human rights, conscience of the people and the ideals of the martyred freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for independence of the country," he continued. Justice Muzammel added, "It is unfortunate to note that some of those accused according to the prosecution were self-proclaimed killers and subsequently they were also promoted to higher posts and some of them were posted as diplomats in Bangladesh missions in various countries. "We totally disapprove the aforesaid conduct, behaviour, mentalities and activities of the governments who were in power at the relevant time. We hope that these undesirable activities which are shocking to the conscience of the nation should not be repeated by any future government. We earnestly hope and believe that rule of law, fundamental human rights, democratic institution, and above all, constitutional supremacy should prevail in this country," Justice Muzammel said in his observation. Justice Aziz observed, "We are shockingly in dearth of proper words to deprecate, condemn, disapprove and denounce such treacherous, immoral and unauthorised activities of the beneficiary governments and their misuse of government machineries. "No bereaved family should be deprived of their right to get justice, nor should they move with pain, agony and humiliation seeking justice for decades against government obstruction under the blanket of black law. Nor any learned judge should feel embarrassed beyond their code of conduct to dispense justice being faithful to our oath, out of fear and favour. "Such activities of the government are highly irresponsible, regrettable, disgraceful and shameful not only to the nation but also to the civilised community of the world and lowered down the image of the country internationally. We like to hope resolutely and believe that no longer the learned judges will indulge to repeat their tarnishing role or such heinous and nefarious acts at the government level using government power, authority and legislation will repeat. "We have high respect in the people of this country who always held high against all odds the spirit of democracy and pursued through pain and hardship to restore and retain democratic rights and culture through democratic government. We believe that the people will continue their role as vanguard of democracy to make the government accountable," Justice Aziz added. Justice SK Sinha in his observation said, "The accused persons brutally killed such a leader who is none but the father of the nation. They even did not spare the child son of the president who was below 10 years old. They killed him in such a brutal manner the nation was shocked and dumbfounded. "There was no explanation why they killed the three women. They committed the crime against humanity by killing a child and three innocent women who were unarmed. They eliminated almost the entire family who were found in the house. There is no explanation on the side of the accused as to why they killed these innocent persons. The acts of the accused were so barbarous which could only be compared with orgies," Justice Sinha continued. "The accused persons by their barbarous act proved that the objective of the conspiracy was not to oust the president from power, but their objective was to eliminate the entire family. And it was an act of exceptional depravity on the part of the accused persons, an unparalleled act in the annals of crime committed in the country." Justice Aziz meanwhile said, "Murder of innocent unarmed men and women and children is the greatest sin in Islam and also in all other religions and a great crime against civilisation and mankind. "In Islam, death is the only punishment for murder. Similar punishment has also been provided in all other religions and under criminal law with exception to transportation for life in some circumstances." THE CONVICTS Of the 12 convicts, Lt Col Syed Farooq Rahman, Lt Col Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Maj Bazlul Huda, Maj (Lancer) AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Lt Col (Artillery) Mohiuddin Ahmed, who appealed with the Supreme Court against the High Court verdict, are now behind bars. On the other hand, Lt Col Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Lt Col Shariful Haque Dalim, Lt Col SHMB Nur Chowdhury, Lt Col AM Rashed Chowdhury, Capt Abdul Mazed and Risaldar Mosleuddin Khan are on the run. The other convict Lt Col Abdul Aziz Pasha died in Zimbabwe in June 2001 where he had taken political asylum. http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=118602 |
__._,_.___