Biswajit murder: Pleas seeking stay on acquittal of 4 dropped

The Supreme Court cleared the way for the four accused, who were acquitted by the High Court in the sensational Biswajit murder case, to walk out of jail.

Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division of the SC Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain dropped three petitions filed by the government seeking stay on the acquittal of the four accused from its hearing list.

“SC chamber judge’s order means that there is no legal bar for the four acquitted accused to release from jail,” Additional Attorney General Momtaz Uddin Fakir told The Daily Star.  

The court also allowed the government to file a leave to appeal petition with the apex court against the HC order that acquitted the four accused, he said.

Among the four, Md Saiful Islam and Qayum Mia Tipu were sentenced to death and Golam Mostafa and AHM Kibria were sentenced to life imprisonment by the trial court, he said, adding that the HC has acquitted them of the charges.

Bishwajit Das, a tailor shop employee, was hacked to death in broad daylight in Dhaka by a group of activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, a front organisation of ruling Awami League, during a countrywide road blockade on December 9, 2012.

On August 6 this year, the HC delivered the verdict on the death reference and appeals in the murder case.

In the verdict, it upheld death sentences of two BCL men, commuted that of four to life term imprisonment and acquitted two others. All of the eight were handed down capital punishments by a lower court on December 18, 2013.

On November 1, the HC released the full text of judgment of the case, observing that the rich and the powerful in the society enjoy a type of impunity and they can easily influence the outcome of an investigation after committing an offence.

It also said some youths involved in organised criminal activities are stigmatising student politics.