The sensational seven murder case of Narayanganj has been awaiting disposal at the Appellate Division for the last three years.
The convicts filed the appeal petition after the High Court handed down its full judgment in the case in 2018. But the Appellate Division is yet to start hearing the petition although three years have already elapsed.
The death row convicts of the case include Lt Col (retd) Tarek Sayeed Mohammad, the former commanding officer of RAB-11; Maj (retd) Arif Hossain, former company commander of RAB-11; Lt Com (expelled) M Masud Rana; and Nur Hossain, a former ward councilor and expelled ruling party Awami League leader.
It has been eight years since the gruesome murder took place in Narayanganj on 27 April in 2014.
AM Amin Uddin, the attorney general, told Prothom ALo that the Appellate Division is currently hearing the petitions that were filed in 2012 and 2013. If the normal sequence is followed, it would take some time to hear the appeal filed in the sensational case.
However, the convicts may file applications with the court seeking initiative for a speedy hearing of their appeal, he said, adding that the state is ready for the hearing.
The Narayanganj district and sessions judge court awarded death sentence to 26 people and different terms to nine more in the murder case on 16 January 2016.
After the verdict, the case documents and judgment were sent to the High Court as death reference. The HC department concerned prepared the paper book of the case on priority basis, being instructed by the then chief justice.
Some 28 convicts filed jail appeals with the High Court against the trial court verdict while the remaining seven convicts were at large.
The High Court handed down its verdict on the death reference and appeal on 22 August in 2017, upholding death sentence of 15 convicts and commuting the capital punishment of remaining 11 to life imprisonment. Also, the court upheld different terms of nine convicts of the case.
The full copy of the HC judgment was released in 2018. Later, the convicts filed separate appeal petitions with the Appellate Division.
SRM Lutfor Rahman Akand, the lawyer of Nur Hossain, told Prothom Alo that his client filed the appeal petition against the HC judgment and sought acquittal in 2019. The petition is now under trial.
On 17 April 2014, the RAB members picked up ward councilor Nazrul, his three associates and driver after setting up a check post in Lamapara area on the Dhaka-Narayanganj link road.
Chandan Sarker, a local lawyer, noticed the incident as he was crossing the area during the period. Sensing the matter, the RAB members also took him away, along with his car driver.
The seven were brutally killed later and thrown into the Shitalakkhya River after cutting their bellies and tying them with brick-filled sacks.
Six of them were found floating on the river on 30 April while the remaining one was found on the next day.
Selina Islam, wife of councilor Nazrul, and Bijay Kumar Paul, son-in-law of lawyer Chandan Sarker, filed separate cases over the incident. The trial court delivered its judgment in the two cases.
Selina Islam told Prothom Alo that they were waiting for the disposal of the appeal petitions filed by the convicts.
The deceased individuals cannot be brought back, but their family members would feel relieved if the appeals are disposed of and the penalty is executed, she said.