[🇧🇩] BDR Mutiny---An Irreparable Damage to Bangladesh's First Line of Defense

[Saif]

Families want sacked BDR soldiers be reinstated

Families of former Bangladesh Rifles soldiers, dismissed and imprisoned after the 2009 BDR massacre, blocked the Shahbagh crossing on Wednesday, demanding reinstatement in the force, now renamed as the Border Guard Bangladesh...

www.newagebd.net

Families want sacked BDR soldiers be reinstated
Staff Correspondent 09 January, 2025, 00:38

Family members of former Bangladesh Riffles soldiers, dismissed and imprisoned in the aftermath of the 2009 BDR massacre, bring out a procession, demanding reinstatement, at the Shahbagh intersection in Dhaka on Wednesday. | New Age photo

Hearing in explosive case begins at Keraniganj today

Families of former Bangladesh Rifles soldiers, dismissed and imprisoned after the 2009 BDR massacre, blocked the Shahbagh crossing on Wednesday, demanding reinstatement in the force, now renamed as the Border Guard Bangladesh.

BDR Carnage Justice Establishment Unity convener Abdul Aziz at a briefing at Central Shaheed Minar Wednesday evening announced that they would stage a blockade at Shahbagh today.

They also announced that they would march towards the court if their demands, including bail and release for all BDR members in prison, were not met.

The chief prosecutor for the case filed against BDR members under the Explosive Substances Act, Md Borhan Uddin, said that the court was expected to begin hearing today at the makeshift courtroom near Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj as several hundred appeals for bail in the case remained pending with the court over the years.

The law ministry in an order on January 2 said that the hearing of the case would be held at the makeshift courtroom in Keraniganj.

Earlier, the hearing took place at the makeshift courtroom at Bakshibazar in the city near the old Dhaka Central Jail.

The protesters also issued an ultimatum for the release of BDR members in 24 hours and announced that they would continue the programme until their demands were met.

Wednesday’s blockade of the Shahbagh crossing disrupted traffic movement in the surrounding areas for hours until a delegation of protesters, including a coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, went to meet the chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus.

‘Protesters started gathering in the Shaheed Minar area in the morning for a rally. They were attempting to march towards Jamuna [the chief adviser’s residence] but police stopped them in front of the Shahbagh police station, where they took position until afternoon,’ said Shahbagh police station officer-in-charge Khalid Mansur.

The protesters, however, took position at the Central Shaheed Minar and continued their protests announcing whole-night protests.

Claiming that BDR members were systematically framed in the incident, the protesters demanded formation of an impartial investigation committee to investigate the deaths of 74 people –– 57 army officers, 10 BDR members and seven civilians –– in the 2009 Pilkhana massacre and bail for the detained BDR members.

One of the protesters, Rafiqul Islam, said that he was jailed for three years for false allegations.

He claimed that the BDR members were wrongly framed, staging a false drama just to dismantle the force.

Protesters said that the killing of the army officers deputed in the BDR in 2009 was a part of the blueprint of then prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Another protester Shahjahan said that he was an office clerk in 2009 and was asked to go to the Durbar Hall at the BDR headquarters on February 25, 2009.

‘Then, the killings happened and many of us were wrongly framed in the case,’ he said, demanding reinstatement of all BDR members dismissed after the mutiny and withdrawal of all false charges against BDR members.

Earlier on December 23, the interim government formed a seven-member commission for reinvestigating the 2009 BDR carnage amid an outcry from the victim families.

In February 25–26, 2009 BDR mutiny, 57 military officers, including then BDR chief Major General Shakil Ahmed, and 17 civilians were killed at then BDR headquarters in Dhaka city.​

 

[Saif]

BDR MUTINY: Trial deferred again as courtroom set on fire

The hearing in the explosive case filed for the February 2009 Bangladesh Rifles mutiny was on Thursday deferred till January 19 as the makeshift courtroom at Government Alia Madrassah was set on fire...

www.newagebd.net

BDR MUTINY: Trial deferred again as courtroom set on fire
M Moneruzzaman 09 January, 2025, 13:29

Investigators inspect the makeshift courtroom used for the 2009 BDR carnage trial after it is set ablaze at Bakshibazar in the capital on Thursday. | Md Saurav

No decision yet on courtroom relocation

The hearing in the explosive case filed for the February 2009 Bangladesh Rifles mutiny was on Thursday deferred till January 19 as the makeshift courtroom at Government Alia Madrassah was set on fire Wednesday night, escalating tensions over the trial.

The development came amidst protests for justice for the members of the erstwhile BDR, dismissed and detained after the 2009 BDR mutiny.

Families of the BDR members blocked Shahbagh crossing for the second consecutive day on Thursday, demanding release of the detained BDR members and reinstatement of their jobs or compensation.

The other case filed for the February 25-26 BDR mutiny that killed 74 people, including 57 army officers, is pending with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court as the government and convicts preferred appeals against the High Court verdict in the case.

The judge of the Dhaka additional metropolitan sessions judge court 1, Md Ismail Hossain deferred the proceedings in ther explosive case at 11:45am on Thursday after inspecting the fire-damaged courtroom alongwith chief public prosecutor Borhan Uddin and his team.

Borhan later told New Age that the court set January 19 for the hearing the bail petitions of over 400 detained BDR soldiers and recording deposition of prosecution witnesses in the explosive case.

The fire incident also complicated the ongoing debate on the location of the makeshift courtroom.

Defense lawyers proposed relocating the trial to a new makeshift courtroom at the abandoned Dhaka Central Jail in Nazimuddin Road or a Women’s Jail on the Keraniganj jail compound.

Borhan said the home and the law ministries would make a decision on the issue.

He said that government officials on Wednesday night issued conflicting statements on the issue.

The law ministry’s public relations officer Rezaul Karim informed journalists by WhatsApp messages that the hearing would be held at the Alia Madrassah compound although the earlier decision was to hold the proceedings at the Dhaka Central Jail at Keraniganj.

The inspector general of prisons, Brigadier General Syed Md Motaher Hossain, wrote to the home ministry on January 8, approving the relocation of the courtroom to Keraniganj jail.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge, in a December 1, 2024 letter to the law ministry, made the same recommendation.

The trial court judge, Ismail Hossain, also noted that the Alia Madrassah compound was suitable, especially after being damaged during the student-led mass uprising.

Additionally, 320 detained BDR members had already been transferred to Dhaka Central Jail for trial proceedings, as it was deemed more convenient for transporting the accused.

Despite these preparations, the government abruptly decided to keep the proceedings at the Alia Madrassah compound.

Jail officials revealed that they were informed late at night on Wednesday about the change, and no orders were issued to produce the detainees before the court.

Borhan Uddin, however, said that the production of the detained soldiers was unnecessary for the bail hearings.

More than 400 bail applications remained pending with the court in the case, which has dragged on for years amidst logistical and legal hurdles.

The high-profile trial has faced persistent challenges, including protests from families of the accused, who demand their release and exoneration from charges of murder and explosives.

The fire damaged several air coolers, electronics, furniture and corrugated iron-sheet ceiling of the makeshift courtroom.

Judge Ismail Hossain arrived at the site at 11:30 am on Thursday and left at about 12:10pm under tight security.

He entered the compound amidst protests by the madrassah students against the trial proceeding on their premises.

Security forces, accompanied by army personnel, cleared the way for the judge and prosecution team, while defense lawyers were barred from accessing the fire-damaged courtroom.

Protesters claimed that two officers from Chawkbazar police station unlocked the gate of the court compound on Wednesday night and fled before the fire incident.

Students also said that the courtroom interfered with a cultural event planned on the madrassah premises for Thursday.

They demanded the permanent relocation of the courtroom.

Firefighters from Lalbagh Fire Station were alerted at 4:22am but were blocked from accessing the compound by madrassah students.

Fire Service officer Talha Bin Jashim said that two fire units waited outside the premises for nearly seven hours as they were not permitted to intervene.

Chawkbazar police officer-in-charge Rezaul Hossain, however, said, ‘It was not a major fire, just smoke.’

He confirmed that no complaints had been filed regarding the fire and said that the police had no immediate plans to initiate legal action.

The home ministry on December 23, 2024 constituted the National Independent Investigation Commission in the wake of continuous demands from family of the army officers killed during the BDR mutiny.

Earlier on December 19, 2024, some members of the victim families filed a complaint against deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her defense adviser Tarique Ahmed Siddique, former army chief Moneen U Ahmed and 55 others for the BDR carnage.

On November 5, 2013, the trial court sentenced 568 accused, mostly BDR troops, including 152 to death, 162 to imprisonment for life term, 256 to jail for varying terms for the murders during the BDR mutiny.

On November 27, 2017, the High Court upheld the death sentences of 139 out of 152 death convicts from the trial court for killing 57 commanders on deputation from the army during the mutiny.

Death sentences of seven other BDR soldiers and Md Zakir Hossain, then a local Awami League leader, were reduced to life terms.

It also upheld the life imprisonment of 146 out of the 160 life term recipients from the trial court.

Two of them, including Bangladesh Nationalist party leader Nasir uddin Ahmed Pintu, died in custody while 12 others were acquitted.

The convicts’ appeals against the AL government’s appeals against acquittals of BDR members await Appellate Division’s hearing.

The High Court called for holding probes to find out why the BDR intelligence agency failed to gather information that a mutiny was brewing to coincide with BDR Week 2009 celebrations.

The High Court in the verdict also called the carnage a pre-planned massacre of 57 brilliant army officers, then serving BDR on deputation, by some ambitious BDR sepoys during their 30-hour mutiny.​

 

[Saif]

পিলখানাকাণ্ড নিয়ে চাঞ্চল্যকর তথ্য দিলেন ব্রিগেডিয়ার জেনারেল রোকন

 

[Saif]

Sacked members of BDR, families take to streets

Sacked Bangladesh Rifles members, students and the families of the BDR members dismissed from the force and imprisoned after the 2009 BDR massacre staged demonstrations on Sunday...

www.newagebd.net

Sacked members of BDR, families take to streets
Staff Correspondent 13 January, 2025, 01:06

New Age photo

BDR mutiny explosives case trial to resume at Keraniganj jail court

Sacked Bangladesh Rifles members, students and the families of the BDR members dismissed from the force and imprisoned after the 2009 BDR massacre staged demonstrations on Sunday in different districts of the country to press home their three-point demands, including immediate release and reinstatement of the imprisoned and sacked BDR members.

Their demands included identifying and ensuring exemplary punishment to the responsible individuals and masterminds for the killing of 74 people, including 57 army officers, in the massacre and the release of all innocent BDR members, reinstatement of all those who were unjustly dismissed from their jobs with full government benefits and the assurance of independent and impartial work of the commission formed to reinvestigate the BDR carnage.

The government announced on Sunday that the remaining trial of the explosives case tied to the 2009 Bangladesh Rifles mutiny would now take place at a makeshift court inside the Dhaka Central Jail at Keraniganj.

The law, justice, and parliamentary affairs ministry issued a gazette notification in this regard, shifting the case from the makeshift court at Government Alia Madrassah, designated for the trial by the Awami League government on December 28, 2010.

The relocation comes after a fire damaged the makeshift courtroom at Government Alia Madrassah on the night of January 9.

Dhaka additional metropolitan sessions judge Md Ibrahim Mia accompanied by chief public prosecutor Borhan Uddin and his team inspected the site before deferring proceedings to January 19.

On Sunday, Dhaka district unit of the BDR Welfare Council organised a human chain at the Anti-Terrorism Raju Memorial Sculpture on the Dhaka University campus to press home the three-point demands.

Addressing the demonstration, Mahin Sarker, a coordinator of the Students Against Discrimination, said that justice must be delivered to the victims in the massacre.

‘It is unfortunate that people have to take to the streets to demand justice from the interim government that was formed following a student-led mass uprising,’ he said.

Criticising and questioning the function of the reinvestigation commission, Mahin said that the commission was instructed to consider the convicted individuals as guilty.​

 

[Saif]

BDR carnage trial to be held at Dhaka Central Jail, not Alia Madrasa ground: Ministry

The trial for the BDR massacre case will take place in a temporary court at Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj instead of the previously planned location at the Dhaka Alia Madrasa ground. The Ministry of Law issued a notification in this regard on Sunday (Jan 12). The notification says, “The

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

BDR carnage trial to be held at Dhaka Central Jail, not Alia Madrasa ground: Ministry
UNB
Published :
Jan 12, 2025 21:02
Updated :
Jan 12, 2025 21:02

The trial for the BDR massacre case will take place in a temporary court at Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj instead of the previously planned location at the Dhaka Alia Madrasa ground.

The Ministry of Law issued a notification in this regard on Sunday (Jan 12).

The notification says, “The BDR carnage case will be heard in the temporary court at Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj, rather than the temporary court set up in the field next to the government Alia Madrasa and Dhaka Central Jail in the Bakshi Bazar area of Dhaka.”

The decision follows protests on January 9 by students who opposed the establishment of a temporary court at the Alia Madrasa ground in Old Dhaka’s Bakshi Bazar.

Human chain at DU demands release of innocent BDR members

During the protests, the courtroom set up in the madrasa compound was also set on fire.

The students said that the ground had long been used by the City Corporation and claimed it would remain under their control after the July Uprising.

In December 2023, the then-mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, faced significant criticism for inaugurating the Alia Madrasa ground as the ‘Bakshi Bazar Central Playground’ following its renovation.

This move had sparked protests and sit-ins from students, who accused the City Corporation of occupying the ground.

On February 25 and 26, 2009, 74 people, including 57 army officers, were killed in a mutiny at the Border Guard Headquarters in Pilkhana.​