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Dhaka, May 13, 2025: In a significant ruling, the High Court has commuted the death sentences of two convicts, Maulana Taj Uddin and Jewel, to life imprisonment in the high-profile Ramna Batamul bomb attack case. The court also reduced the sentences of other accused to 10 years of imprisonment each.
The verdict was delivered on Tuesday by a High Court bench comprising Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Nasrin Akhter. The court reduced the sentences of all appellants, commuting the death penalties of two convicts to life imprisonment and reducing the sentences of nine others from death or life imprisonment to 10 years each. The ruling did not address one convict whose execution had already been carried out and two others who passed away during the legal process.
The bomb attack took place on April 14, 2001, during a Pohela Boishakh celebration organized by Chhayanaut at Ramna Batamul in Dhaka. The attack claimed 10 lives, with nine people killed on the spot and one succumbing to injuries later in the hospital.
Following the incident, Sergeant Amal Chandra Chand of Neelkhet Police Outpost filed two cases under the murder and explosives acts at Ramna Police Station. After completing the trial, the Dhaka District and Sessions Court, led by Judge Ruhul Amin, announced the verdict on June 23, 2014, sentencing eight individuals to death and six to life imprisonment.
Subsequently, the case reached the High Court through death references, jail appeals, and criminal appeals. Notably, the prime accused, Mufti Hannan, who was also sentenced to death in a separate case for the murder of former British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury, was executed on April 12, 2017. Two other convicts, Abdur Rouf and Yahiya, passed away while their appeals were pending, resulting in their exclusion from the final verdict. The High Court pronounced its judgment on the remaining 11 convicts today.
AI/MR
