Kalyanpur Jahajbari Killing of Nine: Charge-Framing Hearing for Hasina and 7 Others Deferred to 17 November
The charge-framing hearing against eight accused, including ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, over the killing of nine people in the name of a raid on an alleged militant hideout at Jahajbari in Kalyanpur in the capital, has been deferred. International Crimes Tribunal-2 has set 17 November as the new date.
On Wednesday (28 October), the tribunal set this date following an application for time from the defence. The day had been scheduled for the charge-framing hearing.
When defence lawyer Sifat Mahmud applied for time, the tribunal granted the application as the prosecution had no objection, and set the new date for the hearing.
There are eight accused in total in this case. Among them, former Inspector General of Police (IGP) A K M Shahidul Haque and former Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner Md Asaduzzaman Mia are in jail after being arrested.
The other six accused are absconding. They are ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, then DMP additional commissioner Sheikh Muhammad Maruf Hasan, then Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) chief Monirul Islam, then DMP joint commissioner (crime) Krishna Pada Roy and joint commissioner (DB) Abdul Baten.
Earlier, on 29 January, the International Crimes Tribunal took the charges against the eight accused, including Sheikh Hasina, into cognizance. At the same time, arrest warrants were issued against the absconding accused.
The case was initially under trial at International Crimes Tribunal-1, but was later transferred to Tribunal-2.
On 25 July 2016, the police's Counter Terrorism Unit (CTTC) conducted a raid named 'Operation Storm-26' at a building called Jahajbari in Kalyanpur. Nine youths were killed in that raid. The then government and law enforcement agencies had labelled them as militants.
However, the raid was later described as a planned militant drama and an extrajudicial killing, and charges of crimes against humanity were brought. The trial of those charges is now under way at the International Crimes Tribunal.
