All accused in the case filed over the killing of Rajshahi University Chhatra League activist Faruk Hossain have been acquitted from charges.
Rajshahi Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court judge Zulfiqar Ullah passed the verdict.
The accused in the case includes the then central amir of Jamaat-e-Islami Matiur Rahman Nizami, secretary general Shaheed Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, nayeb-e-amir Delwar Hossain Sayeedi and the then amir of Rajshahi city unit Ataur Rahman and 110 others.
Confirming the verdict, Ali Ashraf Masum, the public prosecutor at Rajshahi Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court, said that the court acquitted all as the allegations against the accused were not proven beyond doubt based on the evidence.
Of the 114 accused in the case, nine have already passed away, and 105 are alive. Twenty-five accused were present at the time of the verdict, while the rest were absent.
Faruk Hossain was a student of the mathematics department at Rajshahi University. In the late night of 8 February 2010, a clash broke out between Chhatra League leaders and activists and Chhatra Shibir over hall control and dominance. In the incident, Chhatra League activist Faruk Hossain was killed. His body was found in a manhole.
The day after the incident, the then general secretary of the university Chhatra League, Majedul Islam filed a murder case at Motihar police station in the city, naming 35 leaders and activists of Jamaat-Shibir and an additional 20 to 25 unidentified individuals as accused. About two and a half years later, on 28 July 2012, the police submitted a 1,269-page charge sheet to the court.
The charge sheet named 114 individuals as accused, including central and local leaders of Jamaat, as well as then Rajshahi University Chhatra Shibir president Shamsul Alam (Golap), secretary Mobarak Hossain, Nawab Abdul Latif Hall unit Chhatra Shibir president Hasmat Ali, and Shaheed Habibur Rahman Hall president Raizul Islam. After a lengthy trial process, the verdict in the case was announced.
When asked about the verdict, the government’s counsel Ali Ashraf Masum said, “It is too early to say whether we are happy or unhappy with the verdict. Let us first see the verdict. However, when filing the case, the real accused were concealed for political reasons, and others were made defendants.”