Jail Killing Day: 48 years on, justice still elusive
It has been 48 years since, on this very day in 1975, four national leaders were assassinated at the Dhaka Central Jail.
As the nation mourns the four stalwarts of the Liberation War -- Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmad, AHM Quamruzzaman and M Mansur Ali -- justice still eludes the nation.
It has been more than 17 years since a trial court handed down sentences to the 11 convicted perpetrators of this heinous crime.
However, the government could implement the verdict of only one of the killers -- Captain Abdul Majed.
Majed, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in the jail killing case, was arrested on April 7, 2020 after remaining absconding for decades, and was executed in connection with Bangabandhu murder case as he was also a convicted killer of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Other than Majed's execution, the progress in implementing the Supreme Court's verdict in the case has not been satisfactory.
Of the other convicted killers, who are allegedly hiding abroad, only two -- Rashed Chowdhury and Noor Chowdhury -- have been traced by the government so far in the US and Canada respectively.
The government, however, failed to bring them back due to some legal tangles.
On this day in 1975, five army personnel, wearing khaki uniforms and carrying STEN guns and SLRs (self-loading rifles), arrived at the erstwhile Dhaka Central Jail around 4:00am.
The five, including one who introduced himself as Captain Muslemuddin and attached to the Bangabhaban, entered the jail and shot the four leaders to death after charging bayonets at them, says the FIR.
The leaders, who had led the Liberation War in 1971 after Bangabandhu's detention by the Pakistan army -- were put behind bars soon after the August 15, 1975 bloodbath that claimed the lives of Bangabandhu and most of his family members.
A day later, Kazi Abdul Awal, the then deputy inspector general (prisons), filed the FIR with Lalbagh Police Station.
ABM Fazlul Karim, the then Lalbagh OC, was tasked with the investigation and he collected evidence from the scene after a magistrate made an inquest report of the bodies, and a post-mortem report was prepared.
The Indemnity Ordinance, however, halted the investigation and trial for about 21 years until the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) resumed probe on August 18, 1996.
In 2004, a trial court in Dhaka handed punishments to 11 perpetrators.
Of the convicts, eight still could not be traced by the government despite efforts through diplomatic channels, intelligence agencies and the Interpol.
In the case verdict by the Appellate Division of the SC, the then chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha observed that the assassination of the four national leaders was the result of a criminal conspiracy with involvement of very powerful state machineries.
The apex court on April 30, 2013 upheld a Dhaka court's verdict that gave death sentences to three former army personnel -- Muslemuddin, Marfat Ali Shah and Abdul Hashem Mridha -- and life imprisonment to eight others -- Khondaker Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haq Dalim, Noor Chowdhury, Rashed Chowdhury, Ahmed Shariful Hossain, Abdul Majed, Kismat Hasem and Nazmul Hossain.
Four other accused -- Syed Farooq-ur Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda and AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed -- who were executed in the Bangabandhu murder case in 2010, were exempted from charges.
Law Minister Anisul Huq recently said the court verdict has been implemented through the execution of the convicted killers of Bangabandhu, as most of the convicts were involved in both the assassinations.
The government is now working to set up a commission to identify all those behind the killings of Bangabandhu and the four leaders, the minister added.