Khalid Umar Malik
06 Feb 2025, 15:41 GMT+10
DHAKA, Bangladesh - The Dhaka High Court acquitted all convicted persons, including nine people sentenced to death, in a case involving an attack on a train carrying then-opposition leader Sheikh Hasina in Ishwardi, Pabna, in 1994.
The verdict was handed on Wednesday by a court consisting of Justice Muhammad Mahbub Ul Islam and Justice Md Hamidur Rahman.
Barrister Kaisar Kamal represented the defendants in court with assistance from Advocates Mahbubur Rahman Khan and Maksud Ullah.
The case stemmed from an attack on September 23, 1994, while Hasina was traveling from Khulna to Saidpur on the Rupsha Express.
She was supposed to address a public gathering along the way. The case alleges that BNP leader Zakaria Pintoo and other accused individuals planned an armed attack on the train with firearms and explosives near Ishwardi Railway Station, trying to assassinate her.
Following the incident, Nazrul Islam, the then-officer-in-charge of the Ishwardi GRP police station, filed a case the same day.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) thereafter took up the investigation and filed a charge sheet against 52 people on April 3, 1997.
Five of the accused later died of natural causes, and their names were removed from the trial proceedings.
On July 3, 2019, a court convicted Zakaria Pintoo and eight others to death, while 25 others received life sentences and 13 were sentenced to ten years in prison.
The death penalty cases were automatically referred to the High Court for review, and the prisoners filed appeals seeking acquittal.
With the High Court's decision, all defendants have been exonerated.
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