The law is what matters
Says BDR case judge
Accused in the BDR carnage case appear before a makeshift court at Bakshibazar in the city yesterday. The detainees, handcuffed with each other and fettered in the legs, face inconveniences as they get down from the prison van. The photo was taken yesterday. Photo: STAR
The judge presiding over the trial of the BDR carnage case said yesterday the court never expects anyone to be hanged. He said this in response to a defence lawyer's remark directed at the prosecution. “We expect that every accused will be acquitted, but also that finally things will take place as per the law,” said Judge Mohammad Zohurul Haque of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court. Earlier, defence lawyer Advocate Faruq Ahmed had said in exasperation, “Oh, you can hang many innocent accused and we cannot even cross-examine the witness properly!” The lawyer expressed his feelings when prosecution lawyers objected to the questions which Faruq put to Lt Col Mohammad Abu Tasnim, the third prosecution witness in the case. A smiling judge asked Faruq how he knew that the accused would be hanged. Faruq did not reply. Five defence counsels yesterday cross-examined the witness, asking “largely irrelevant questions”, which evidently left the judge irked. “The whole world is watching the trial. Cross examine the witness for necessity, not for fashion,” an apparently annoyed judge admonished the defence lawyers. The defence will resume its cross-examination of Tasnim on October 12 as the makeshift court at Bakshibazar rose for the day yesterday. During the four-hour proceedings beginning at 9:15am, prosecution and defence lawyers were locked in heated altercations over the relevance of the questions put to the witness. Earlier on September 29, the defence lawyers began cross-examining the witness. On September 21, Tasnim provided a vivid account of how the mutiny broke out at the Darbar Hall in Pilkhana during BDR Week in February 2009. He also dwelt at length on his agonising hours in captivity with seven of his family members. Tasnim was present at the Darbar Hall on the morning of February 25, 2009 when sepoy Moyeen suddenly appeared on the stage with firearms, which was the first sign of a bloody mutiny that would leave at least 74 people, 57 of them army officers, murdered. Altogether 824 BDR jawans and 23 civilians have been charged in the case. The charges against them include arson, theft, looting, dumping dead bodies, holding people hostage and destroying property. Earlier, Nabojyoti Khisa, the complainant and first prosecution witness of the case, and second prosecution witness Inspector Kamal Uddin were cross-examined by the defence.
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