Over 730 murder cases filed over attempt to tame uprising: IGP

As many as 1730 cases, including 731 murder cases, were filed across the country accusing top leaders of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina's regime and her Awami League (now banned) of attempting to tame the July Uprising using brutal force.

"We are investigating the cases very cautiously. We are working to complete the investigation into the cases in a fair manner to ensure punishment of the perpetrators," Inspector General of Police (IGP) Baharul Alam said today (6 August), coinciding with the first anniversary of the uprising.

The police chief added, "The July uprising cases are very important ones."

He said most front-ranking AL leaders and cabinet members of the ousted regime including the deposed premier and the party president, former road transport minister and party's general secretary Obaidul Quader and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, were made accused in many of the cases.

According to the IGP, police did not have any intention to carry out the investigations in haste, which might create scope for perpetrators to escape justice.

"There is huge number of murder cases linked to the July Uprising. So, it will take time as police have been attaching priority on completing investigations into every of those cases in a fair manner," he said.

The police chief, however, said he was hopeful that the investigations into a considerable number of cases would be completed by August next year, while "the Police Headquarters has been monitoring the progress of the cases".

The IGP said charge sheets in 15 cases of the July Uprising, including five murder cases were submitted by now before the courts.

Sherpur police submitted charge sheets in three murder cases, while Kurigram police and Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) submitted the same in two cases.

Out of the 10 cases filed under other sections of the Penal Code, one each was submitted by Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Barisal Metropolitan Police (BMP) and Pabna district, three by Chapainawabganj police, two each by Sirajganj police and Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI).

Senior police officers are supervising the cases to ensure proper investigation of the cases filed during the mass uprising of students and the public.

Many of the top AL leaders and cabinet members are now behind bars in the July Uprising cases.

According to the UN fact-finding committee, as many as 1400 people were killed during the uprising in between 15 July and 15 August last year while the interim government said around 20,000 others were injured during the uprising.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) has so far received 450 complaints involving grievous crimes committed during the July Uprising, extrajudicial killings in so-called cross-fires and enforced disappearances allegedly carried out under the previous government.

ICT-BD Chief Prosecutor Muhammad Tajul Islam said that probe reports in four of these cases, including one against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and two other high-profile accused, were submitted.

Charges have been formally framed in two of the cases, and ICT-1 has started recording depositions of prosecution witnesses in the case against the deposed premier, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, and former IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.

The chief prosecutor said that 30 miscellaneous cases were filed so far, involving 209 individuals. Of them, 84 accused have already been arrested, adding that the prosecutors were determined to bring the masterminds and direct perpetrators of these atrocities to justice.

"We do not intend to replicate the standard of evidence used in past tribunals. We are presenting the undeniable truth—setting a rigid timeframe for investigation would not be appropriate," he said as asked about the possible time to be taken for filing the probe reports.

Tajul Islam informed that the prosecution so far recorded statements of over 1,000 witnesses and collected extensive digital evidence, including more than 1,000 video clips, to substantiate the charges.

Hasina, along with former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and ex-IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, is currently facing trial at the ICT as a principal architect of what prosecutors describe as crimes against humanity committed during the July Uprising.