Tarique, Babar, 47 others acquitted in Aug 21 grenade attack cases

The High Court has acquitted all 49 accused in the August 21 grenade attack cases, including BNP Acting Chairperson Tarique Rahman and former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar.

The HC bench, consisting of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain, delivered the judgment after hearing the death references and appeals related to the two cases filed over the August 21 grenade attack.

Earlier, on November 21 this year, the bench kept the death references (trial court documents for confirmation of death sentences) and the appeals filed by the convicted accused in the cases as curia advisari vult (meaning the verdict will be delivered any day), after concluding the hearing on those matters. 

On October 10, 2018, a speedy trial tribunal sentenced 19 people, including Lutfozzaman Babar and former Deputy Minister for Education Abdus Salam Pintu, to death, while 19 others, including Tarique Rahman, were sentenced to life imprisonment in two cases filed over the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in the capital in 2004.

Additionally, 11 people were awarded different jail terms in these high-profile cases.

The cases were filed following a grenade attack on an Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka during the BNP-led government, which claimed 24 lives and left about 300 people injured. 

Sheikh Hasina, the then opposition leader and a target of the attack, narrowly escaped harm. She later served as prime minister for more than 15 years but resigned and fled the country on August 5 this year amid a mass uprising.