BDR carnage: HC verdict on death reference Sunday

Staff Correspondent: The High Court (HC) is scheduled to deliver its verdict on the death reference and appeals in BDR carnage case on Sunday.

A three-member special bench led by Justice Md Shawkat Hossain of the HC will hand down the verdict in the case.

The other members of the bench are Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique and Justice Nazrul Islam Talukder.

Eearlier on April 13, the HC bench kept the case waiting for verdict after hearing arguments on the death reference and appeals in the case for 370 days.

The death reference and the appeals were filed with the HC months after a Dhaka court announced the verdict on November 5, 2013, nearly five years after the bloody mutiny.

The trial court gave death sentences to 150 BDR soldiers and two civilians, and jailed 160 others for life for their roles and involvement in the massacre.

It also handed down rigorous imprisonment to 256 people, mostly BDR soldiers. The court acquitted the remaining 277 accused, but the government later appealed against acquittal of 69 of them.

Seventy-four people, including 57 army officials, were killed during the BDR (Bangladesh Rifles) mutiny on February 25-26 in 2009 at the Pilkhana headquarters of the paramilitary force, later renamed Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).

risingbd/Dhaka/November 25, 2017/Mehade/A K Azad