Bangladesh’s Supreme Court has fixed September 4 for delivering its verdict on the state’s appeal against the High Court’s acquittal of all accused in the 21 August grenade attack case.

The decision came Thursday (August 21), following the fifth day of hearings before a bench led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed. 

The hearings, which began last month, reviewed appeals filed by the prosecution challenging the High Court ruling that overturned earlier convictions handed down by the trial court.

On Wednesday, the defence presented arguments on behalf of BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman and former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar. 

Defence counsels, including SM Shahjahan and Mohammad Shishir Monir, expressed optimism that the acquittals would be upheld, citing alleged inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case.

SM Shahjahan, representing the accused, said he expected the Supreme Court’s verdict to affirm the High Court’s decision, which had freed the defendants.

The High Court, on January 12 this year, acquitted all 49 accused — including Tarique Rahman, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment, and Lutfozzaman Babar, who had received the death penalty — overturning the 2018 trial court judgment. On June 1, the Appellate Division permitted the state to proceed with appeals against that ruling.

In its 2018 judgment, the trial court sentenced 19 people, including Babar and former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu, to death, and imposed life sentences on another 19, among them Tarique Rahman, Khaleda Zia’s political secretary Haris Chowdhury, and BNP leader Kazi Shah Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad.

The 21 August 2004 grenade attack remains one of the deadliest political assaults in Bangladesh’s history. Grenades were hurled at an Awami League rally on Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka, killing 24 people, including the party’s women's affairs secretary Ivy Rahman, and injuring several hundred others. Many survivors, including current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, sustained lifelong injuries, with dozens left permanently disabled.

SMS/