Multiple Cases Against Militant : Trial at one single court

Any militant now accused in more than one case will soon be tried in a single court for all the cases, no matter where those were filed.

The government has made the decision to expedite the trial of militancy cases and minimise the security risk during the movement of militants from one court to another.

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The plan is also to avoid the hassle of witnesses who take trouble to be present at court time and again due to the lingering of trial.

The home ministry has already started working to determine which courts will be convenient for holding the trials, said a top ministry official.

“After selecting the courts, the home ministry will send a proposal to the law ministry, which will issue a gazette notification shifting all the cases against one militant to a single court,” the official told The Daily Star last week, requesting anonymity.

Requested by the ministry, police have already provided a list of 83 militants who have been facing trial or under investigation in militancy cases across the country.

Although the number of militants on death row is 54, the list includes only 14 of them.

Twenty-six others who are serving different jail terms but are under trial in different cases are also on the list. 

“We did not include the militants whose cases have been pending with higher courts,” the ministry official added.

Talking to this newspaper on Monday, Senior Home Secretary Mozammel Haque Khan said, “We have made a policy decision in this regard and will complete the process as soon as possible.

“We will hold the trial of cases against a militant in a single court as transporting the accused from one court to another is always risky. And it is also a waste of time.”

Following the move, cases are likely to be disposed of quickly, he added. 

The government as part of the move has already shifted cases over the killing of former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria from Habiganj Special Tribunal to Speedy Trial Tribunal in Sylhet.

The Daily Star obtained the police list, which shows that Enayet Ullah alias Jewel alias Walid, now in the condemned cell of Kashimpur High Security Jail in Gazipur, is facing 31 cases filed in Dhaka, Tangail, Narayanganj and Gazipur.

Enayet Ullah, member of banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, was awarded death penalty by Speedy Trial Tribunal-4 along with nine other JMB men on June 20, 2013 over a suicide bomb attack inside the Gazipur Bar Association office in 2005.

The bombing killed nine people, including the suicide bomber and four lawyers, and injured 80.

From the jail, Enayet is produced before different courts in Dhaka, Narayanganj and Tangail for trial in 11 cases against him.

Another militant Abdul Aziz alias Hanif, who is in Sylhet Central Jail, was an accused in 22 cases. He has already been sentenced to jail terms ranging between 10 and 14 years in seven of the cases.

He is produced before courts in Sylhet, Sunamganj, Habiganj and Moulvibazar for 14 cases still under trial.

Shamim Hossain Galib, another JMB leader who was awarded life imprisonment by a Chandpur court on February 14, 2011, had eight cases against him. He was earlier awarded life term by four other separate courts in Feni, Comilla and Chandpur.

Two cases filed in Satkhira and Rangamati are still under trial against the dreaded militant, and law enforcers have to transport him to produce before courts in the two districts, which are very far apart. 

Law enforcement agencies, particularly the police, dealing with militants have long been trying to persuade the government to complete the trial process and all other legal formalities for quick execution of death-row militants.

Sources in the police said they are demanding this as there is always a security risk in moving the militants from one court to another.

An intelligence agency recently reported that top militants have been meeting in jails, discussing ideas and making plans from inside, and sharing the ideas and plans with militants meeting them in the guise of relatives.

The move for quick completion of trial of militants came to the fore following the terrorist attacks in a Gulshan café and near Sholakia Eid congregation.

On February 23, 2014, JMB men attacked a prison van carrying three top JMB leaders from a Gazipur jail to a Mymensingh court and snatched them.

A police constable was killed as the attackers opened fire and hurled crude bombs.

The three militants are Rakib Hasan Russell alias Hafez Mahmud, Salauddin Ahmed alias Salehin and Zahidul Islam alias "Boma" Mizan.

Hafez was later killed in a police “shootout” while in custody. But Salehin, who leads the JMB in Sylhet and Mymensingh, and Mizan, an explosives expert, are still at large.