Hasina, Gen Aziz sued over custodial death of BDR carnage accused

Thirteen people, including ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and former director general (DG) of Border Guard of Bangladesh (BGB) General Aziz Ahmed were sued today over the death of BDR carnage case accused Abdur Rahim in jail custody.

Abdur Rahim, then deputy assistant director (DAD) of former BDR, was an accused in a case lodged over the carnage that took place in Pilkhana in 2009. He died in jail on 29 July in 2010.

DAD Rahim's son Advocate Abdul Aziz filed the case with the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Akteruzzaman.

Confirming the matter, the plaintiff's lawyer Md Delwar Hossain alleged that Abdur Rahin had been killed by the accused in a planned manner. In this incident, a wrongful death case was registered at the Chawkbazar Police Station. 

"Today, the court summoned the records of that case and registered our application today."

The others accused in the case include Mosharraf Hossain Kazal, Ashraful Islam Khan, Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, Sheikh Selim, Sheikh Helal, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Mirza Azam, Hasanul Haque Inu.

Another 200 unnamed people were also accused in the case.

The killings at the Pilkhana headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) on 25-26 February 2009, which resulted in the deaths of 74 people, including 57 army officials, left the nation in shock. The paramilitary force BDR was later renamed Border Guard Bangladesh.

On 5 November 2013, a Dhaka court handed down death sentences to 150 BDR members and two civilians, and life imprisonment to 160 others for their role and involvement in the carnage. A total of 256 people, mostly BDR soldiers, were handed jail sentences.

The court acquitted 278 others, but the prosecution later appealed against the acquittal of 69.

In January 2015, the HC started hearing the appeals of the convicts and pronounced its verdict on 27 November 2017, confirming the death penalty of 139.

It commuted the death penalty of eight convicts to life imprisonment and acquitted five others, who were sentenced to death by the trial court.

The HC upheld life imprisonment of 146 and acquitted 14 of the 160 accused, who were sentenced to life by the lower court.

A total of 248 accused out of the 278 got acquittals from the HC.

A total of 256 convicts in the carnage case are behind bars beyond their jail terms as the trial of the second case filed under the Explosive Substances Act had yet to be completed.