Aug 21 grenade attack: Appeal hearing on Tarique, Babar acquittals Thursday

The Supreme Court has fixed Thursday for a hearing on the state's appeal against the High Court verdict acquitting all suspects in the highly publicised case over the Aug 21 grenade attack that rocked an Awami League rally and killed 24 people two decades ago.

On Tuesday, a five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed set the date following a petition for an expedited hearing by senior lawyer Zainul Abedin.

BNP lawyers Jamiruddin Sircar, AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon, Kayser Kamal, Ruhul Quddus Kazal, and Gazi Kamrul Islam Sajal were present in court, while Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman appeared for the state, reports bdnews24.com.

The High Court had previously acquitted all accused, including BNP’s Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman and former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar, in the widely discussed case over the 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally at Banganbandhu Avenue.

On Dec 1, 2024, the panel of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain delivered the High Court verdict, which followed the hearing of appeals and death references related to the trial court’s ruling.

The lower court had sentenced 19 people, including Babar, to death, while Tarique and 18 others were jailed for life. Eleven police and Army officers were also sentenced to varying terms of imprisonment.

However, the High Court rejected the state’s death reference and allowed the appeals, effectively acquitting all 38 accused, including those who had not filed appeals.

The sweeping acquittals triggered widespread surprise and criticism on social media, with many questioning whether justice would ever be served for the 24 people killed in the grenade attack.

A partial answer came in the form of the 79-page full verdict, published on the Supreme Court website on Dec 19, 2024.

The High Court acknowledged that the Aug 21 grenade attack was one of the "most heinous and tragic" events in the country’s history, killing many, including Awami League leader Ivy Rahman.

"To ensure justice for the departed souls, a proper and independent investigation into this massacre is essential. That has been entirely absent in this case."

The court added that the case should be referred to the home ministry for a fresh and professional investigation, and ordered a copy of the verdict to be sent to the ministry.

The state filed its appeal against the High Court verdict on Mar 19, and on Jun 1, the Appellate Division granted leave to appeal.

The Aug 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally led by party chief Sheikh Hasina, then the opposition leader, caused national and international outrage. At the time, BNP chief Khaleda Zia was the prime minister.

The case alleged that the attack was aimed at assassinating Hasina, carried out by Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) militants with support from foreign terrorists, and facilitated by top figures in the then BNP-Jamaat coalition government. The grenades used were imported from Pakistan.

Judge Shahed Noor Uddin, who presided over the original speedy trial tribunal, said in his judgment that the attack was carried out with the “support of state machinery” and with the “malicious intent to render the [Awami League] leaderless”.

“In politics, there will of course be a hundred disputes between the ruling party and the opposition party. But that doesn’t mean there can be an attempt to render the opposition leaderless. This is unacceptable.”

In contrast, the High Court observed that the order for reinvestigation had been made without legal authority, and ruled that the supplementary chargesheet, which was based on the 2011 confession of Mufti Abdul Hannan, was "illegal".

The judgment also highlighted that no witnesses had observed any of the accused throwing grenades, which made the convictions based solely on confessions invalid.