Lawyers representing the defendants in the 21 August grenade attack case have alleged that the banned Awami League president Sheikh Hasina never intended to bring the true perpetrators to justice.
Their remarks came on Thursday (September 4), after the Appellate Division upheld a High Court verdict acquitting all accused.
Senior lawyer SM Shahjahan, reacting to the ruling, said: “All appeals and petitions brought by the state have been dismissed. The High Court’s acquittal stands. I feel proud of our Supreme Court—both the High Court and the Appellate Division. Once again, they have upheld justice and shown that the rule of law exists in Bangladesh.”
He added that the High Court had earlier noted deficiencies in the investigation, calling for reinvestigation.
“That was the responsibility of the state, not the judiciary. Since the matter was expanded, the acquittal applies to Tarique Rahman and others who could not file appeals,” Shahjahan said. “Everyone, including Tarique Rahman, is now fully acquitted. This proves again that no one can be sentenced to death unjustly.”
Shahjahan also pointed out flaws in the reliance on statements made under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, particularly by militant leader Mufti Hannan. He noted that Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, while delivering the verdict, ruled that Hannan’s statements—previously linked to another grenade attack in Sylhet—were not admissible. Other confessional statements, he said, were not given voluntarily and thus carried no legal value.
Barrister Kaiser Kamal, counsel for BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman, said: “The full bench of the Supreme Court has proved that Tarique Rahman has received justice. This was an inhumane crime, but Sheikh Hasina, driven by political motives and personal vendetta, unjustly implicated Tarique in this case. The verdict has established his innocence.”
Kamal went further, alleging: “Today it has been proven that Sheikh Hasina never truly sought justice for the victims, including Ivy Rahman. If she had wanted justice, she would not have dragged Tarique Rahman into the case out of political vengeance.”
Other BNP-aligned lawyers, including Mohammad Shishir Monir and Mahbub Uddin Khokon, were also present during the defence’s reaction.
SMS/
