12 JMB militants acquitted
A Rajshahi court yesterday acquitted 12 militants of banned Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in a case filed for torturing a teenage boy in Bagmara during the rise of militancy in 2004.
Victim and plaintiff of the case, Manik, rejected the verdict and said he would appeal against it with the High Court soon.
A gang of JMB militants on April 6, 2004 beat up Manik, an SSC examinee, and ransacked his house after his parents refused to pay Tk 1 lakh toll. As a means of exerting pressure for the money, Manik was then taken to a JMB camp set up at Ramjan Kaya's house at Hamirkutsa and tortured overnight. He was released next morning only after a payment of Tk 50,000 ransom by Manik's family.
In yesterday's verdict, Afzal Hossain, judge of the first court of Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal, said the charges against the accused could not be proved.
Public Prosecutor Sayeda Morjina Khatun said, "Most of the witnesses seemed afraid to testify against the militants." Yet some of the statements of the witnesses were strong enough where the judge could use his judicial mind to give a verdict against the accused.
About five years after the incident, Manik lodged the case with a Rajshahi court accusing 34 militants but police pressed charges against 12 of them in December 2009.
Asked about the long delay in filing the case, Manik said that following the incident, JMB men used to threaten him with dire consequences for any action against them.
He yesterday said the accused were proved guilty through statements of five out of the nine witnesses of the case.
Manik was among the 21 victims tortured by the gang of Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, who received compensation from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2009. Bangla Bhai was executed with five other top militants of the gang on March 29, 2007 for killing two Jhalakathi judges.
Manik could not continue his study following the torture and the consequent long process of treatment. He now runs a small business for a living.
The acquitted militants are Lutfar Rahman, a madrasa teacher at Atrai of Naogaon, Mahtab Khamaru, Mamun Muhuri, Bipul Ahmed, Kalimuddin, Aynul Haque Darji and Siddik, all are close aides of Bangla Bhai, and Zahidul, Abdul Jalil, Abdul Kuddus, Mofazzal and Shamsuddin of different villages in Bagmara.
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