The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has scheduled 13 August for the hearing of a petition challenging the High Court’s verdict that acquitted all accused, including BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman and former state minister Lutfozzaman Babar, in the 21 August grenade attack case.
A six-member bench led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed passed the order on Thursday.
Additional Attorney General Abdul Jabbar Bhuiyan and others appeared for the state, while senior advocates SM Shahjahan and Mohammad Shishir Monir represented the defence.
The state filed the appeal on 19 March this year after the High Court, on 1 December 2023, overturned the 2018 verdict by a Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal. That earlier verdict had sentenced Babar and others to death, and Tarique Rahman to life imprisonment.
The grenade attack, carried out on 21 August 2004 during an Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka, killed 24 people and injured nearly 300, including Sheikh Hasina.
Initially, 22 people were charged in 2008. A supplementary charge sheet filed during the Awami League government later added 30 more names, including Tarique Rahman.
LND/SAE
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