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News<br />
MONDAY,<br />
3<br />
AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
BISHWAJIT MURDER<br />
HC upholds death penalty for two<br />
Family unhappy with verdict<br />
• Ashif Islam Shaon<br />
COURTS <br />
The High Court has upheld death<br />
for two out of eight Bangladesh<br />
Chhatra League men initially sentenced<br />
to hang by a lower court for<br />
killing Bishwajit Das in old Dhaka.<br />
The two convicts are former<br />
leaders of Chhatra League in Jagannath<br />
University Rafiqul Islam<br />
Shakil and Rajon Talukdar.<br />
Delivering its verdict on death<br />
references and appeals yesterday,<br />
the High Court bench of Justice Md<br />
Ruhul Quddus and Justice Bhishmadev<br />
Chakraborty commuted<br />
sentences of four to life imprisonment<br />
while the remaining two – Md<br />
Saiful Islam and Qayum Mia Tipu —<br />
were acquitted.<br />
The four who were given the<br />
benefit of doubt are Mahfuzur Rahman<br />
Nahid, Emdadul Haque Emdad,<br />
Rasheduzzaman Shaon and<br />
Noor-e-Alam Limon.<br />
Among 13 accused who were<br />
sentenced to life imprisonment by<br />
the trial court in December, 2013,<br />
two — AHM Kibria and Golam<br />
Mustafa — appealed against their<br />
sentences. The High Court acquitted<br />
them, but made no comment<br />
about the remaining 11, who are<br />
now on the run.<br />
The fugitives are Saiful Islam<br />
Saiful, Tarique Bin Zohur, Azizur<br />
Rahman, Al Amin Sheikh, Alauddin,<br />
Obaidul Quader Tahsin, Imran<br />
Hossain, Khandaker Md Yunus Ali,<br />
Monirul Haque Pavel, Mosharraf<br />
Hossain and Kamrul Hasan.<br />
A total of 21 members of Chhatra<br />
League, the student front of<br />
the ruling Awami League, were<br />
convicted of murdering Bishwajit,<br />
a tailor by profession, on the way<br />
to his tailoring shop at Laxmibazar<br />
in Old Dhaka on December 9, 2012<br />
during a strike enforced by the<br />
BNP-led opposition.<br />
Bishwajit, then 24, was hacked<br />
and beaten to death by the Chhatra<br />
League men. The brutal killing in<br />
broad daylight was caught on cameras<br />
of four TV channels and several<br />
newspapers.<br />
As law enforcers present in the<br />
area did not stop the attackers, a<br />
rickshaw puller rescued and took<br />
him to a hospital where on-duty<br />
doctors declared him dead.<br />
Terming the attack “a senseless<br />
act of merciless murder,” the High<br />
Court lambasted former sub-inspector<br />
of Sutrapur Police Station<br />
Jahedul Haque, saying he made an<br />
incomplete report on Bishwajit’s<br />
death.<br />
It asked the police chief to find<br />
out if Jahedul was negligent while<br />
conducting the inquest into the incident.<br />
The court also criticised Dr Md<br />
Maksud, who performed Bishwajit’s<br />
autopsy at Sir Salimullah Medical<br />
College, saying he did not properly<br />
discharge his duties.<br />
The Ministry of Heath and Family<br />
Welfare, Directorate General of<br />
Health Services, and Bangladesh<br />
Medical and Dental Council were<br />
ordered to check if there was any<br />
negligence by Maksud.<br />
The High Court called on Human<br />
Rights and Peace for Bangladesh<br />
(HRPB) President Advocate<br />
Manzill Murshid to keep an eye<br />
on the inquiries and report to the<br />
court from time to time.<br />
Family’s reactions<br />
Bishwajit’s family and relatives,<br />
who were happy with the lower<br />
court’s verdict, said the High Court<br />
verdict acquitting four of the 21 accused<br />
pained them unspeakably.<br />
“There is no word to describe<br />
our grief over this verdict,” Ananta<br />
Kumar Das, father of Bishwajit,<br />
told journalists.<br />
They urged the authorities concerned<br />
to uphold the earlier judgment.<br />
Court’s observation<br />
Announcing the judgement, the<br />
High Court bench said: “Nowadays,<br />
we notice that the glorious<br />
history of student politics has seriously<br />
been stigmatised by some of<br />
the derailed youths who have got<br />
involved in criminal activities such<br />
as extortions, arms and drug trading,<br />
murder and violence.<br />
“Some political leaders patronise<br />
these youths. Even, we see<br />
the youths beat their teachers as<br />
the latter do not let them follow<br />
unfair means in public examinations.<br />
Also, some of them who are<br />
involved in politics are seen forcing<br />
general students to take part in political<br />
activities with them.”<br />
The court said it was the duty<br />
of national leaders to address these<br />
problems and authorities at educational<br />
institutions should adopt<br />
policy to stop such practice. •<br />
Amid US-Russia feud, Tillerson and Lavrov hold talks<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
WORLD <br />
The United States and Russia are<br />
feuding, expelling diplomats in<br />
what Washington calls a new post-<br />
Cold War low. But that didn’t stop<br />
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson<br />
and Russian Foreign Minister<br />
Sergey Lavrov from meeting for the<br />
first time since the Trump administration<br />
imposed new sanctions<br />
against Moscow.<br />
As investigations plow ahead<br />
into Russia’s meddling in the 2016<br />
US presidential election, the two<br />
held talks Sunday on the sidelines<br />
of an Asian regional gathering in<br />
the Philippines. They smiled and<br />
exchanged pleasantries but made<br />
no substantive remarks to journalists<br />
briefly permitted to observe<br />
the start of the meeting.<br />
Neither Tillerson nor Lavrov<br />
responded to a shouted question<br />
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov,<br />
shakes hands prior to their talks in Moscow on April 12, <strong>2017</strong><br />
AP<br />
about how the new US penalties<br />
might affect their discussions.<br />
More than an hour later, Tillerson<br />
emerged from the meeting and<br />
boarded his motorcade without<br />
commenting.<br />
Bishwajit Das, 24, was beaten and hacked to death by Bangladesh Chhatra League men on December 9, 2012<br />
Tillerson and President Donald<br />
Trump opposed the sanctions<br />
package, passed by Congress in<br />
July, that makes it harder for Trump<br />
to ever ease penalties on Russia.<br />
Trump signed the bill last week,<br />
but called it “seriously flawed.”<br />
The White House said Trump’s<br />
opposition stemmed from the bill’s<br />
failure to grant the president sufficient<br />
flexibility on when to lift<br />
sanctions. Trump’s critics saw his<br />
objections as one more sign that<br />
he is too eager to pursue closer ties<br />
to Russia, or to protect the former<br />
Cold War foe from penalties designed<br />
to punish Moscow for its actions<br />
in Ukraine, election meddling<br />
and other troublesome behavior.<br />
Even so, Trump’s administration<br />
has argued there’s good reason for<br />
the US to seek a more productive relationship.<br />
Tillerson has cited modest<br />
signs of progress in Syria, where<br />
the US and Russia recently brokered<br />
a cease-fire in the war-torn country’s<br />
southwest, as a sign there’s fertile<br />
ground for cooperation.<br />
Yet Russia continues to chafe at<br />
the suggestion it interfered in the<br />
US election. The former Russian<br />
ambassador in Washington, Sergey<br />
COLLECTED<br />
Kislyak, denied those allegations in<br />
an interview Saturday on Russian<br />
state television. He said he was<br />
merely carrying out his duties as a<br />
diplomat when he met with members<br />
of Trump’s campaign team.<br />
“Any diplomat, Russian or not,<br />
works to better understand the<br />
policy of a country he’s posted to,<br />
figure out what the new administration’s<br />
course is and understand<br />
where cooperation is possible,”<br />
Kislyak said.<br />
Still, a US Justice Department<br />
investigation is moving ahead into<br />
Russia’s election interference and<br />
potential Trump campaign collusion.<br />
Trump denies any collusion and<br />
has repeatedly questioned US intelligence<br />
about Moscow’s involvement.<br />
Trump has tried to turn the<br />
issue into a political rallying cry, arguing<br />
that the controversy is an attempt<br />
by Democrats and the media<br />
to undermine the many millions of<br />
Americans who voted for him. •