46 more BNP leader, activists sentenced
Some 46 more leaders and activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its associate bodies were sentenced to different terms by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court in Dhaka on Wednesday in three separate cases. All the cases were lodged in September 2018.
One of these cases was lodged with the Cantonment police station on 30 September 2018. Members of Bangladesh Police filed the case as plaintiff. The court has sentenced 24 leaders and activists of the BNP and its associate bodies to two years in prison. Four of the accused were acquitted from the case. CMM court magistrate Rajesh Chowdhury passed the verdict on Wednesday.
According to the case statement, some 53 leaders and activists of the BNP and its associate bodies, including Khilkhet thana BNP general secretary Abdur Rashid, vandalised vehicles with local weapons demanding the release of party chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia.
Later, they hurled brickbats towards the police, as the members of the law enforcement agency tried to disperse them. Some four police members were injured in the incident.
The court framed charges against the accused on 22 March 2021. The state produced 6 police members as witnessed before the court. The court started recording the deposition of the witness on 7 November, which ended on 20 November.
Notable among the convicts are Cantonment thana BNP organising secretary Miyaj Uddin and Cantonment thana Swechchhasebak Dal president Parvej.
Meanwhile, a Dhaka court has sentenced 12 BNP activists, including Chhatra Dal’s Jagannath University unit president Md Parvej, to two years in prison in a case filed by the police with the Kotowali police station on 10 December, 2018.
Dhaka CMM court magistrate Md Saiful Islam passed the verdict on Wednesday. The convicts include Kotowali thana BNP general secretary Anwarul Azim.
As per the case statement, the BNP leaders and activists started vandalising the vehicles demanding the release of party chief Begum Khaleda Zia. As police tried to defuse them, they hurled brickbats towards them injuring two of their members. Some five police members were produced before the court as the witnesses of the case. The deposition of the witnesses in the case started on 7 September and ended on 20 November.
The court has sentenced 10 BNP activists, including Shah Ali thana Sramik Dal’s former organising secretary, to two years in prison. Dhaka CMM court magistrate Saiful Islam rendered the verdict on Wednesday.
According to the case statement, on the day of the incident Sramik Dal leaders were chanting different slogans demanding the release of the BNP chairperson. At one point, they started vandalising vehicles. The state produced eight of the 13 witnesses before the court. Of them, five were police members and three were general people.
In all, a total of 814 have been sentenced to different terms in 52 cases in the last three months.