Verdicts were based on poor evidence

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The verdicts sentencing three teachers and four students of Dhaka University (DU) in two cases for violating Emergency Power Rules (EPR) were based on “poor” evidence as most witnesses did not name the students and teachers, observed renowned jurists.

The jurists said going through the documents of 28 prosecution witnesses of the two cases they found that only two named the convicted students and teachers. Rest of the witnesses did not corroborate the oral evidence of the two witnesses given before the courts.

Reviewing the facts, noted jurist Shahdeen Malik said such weak prosecution evidence in criminal cases invariably leads to acquittal. Preliminary perusal of the evidence could not but evoke surprise about the conviction, he said.

“It seems the evidence was not sufficient for finding of guilt and imprisonment,” Malik told The Daily Star yesterday.

Justice Ghulam Rabbani, a former judge of the Appellate Division of Supreme Court, termed the criminal cases against the DU teachers and students mysterious.

“The scenario regarding the criminal cases against the teachers and students of Rajshahi University and Dhaka University appear to be mysterious and cannot be equated with the normal process of law,” Rabbani told The Daily Star yesterday.

“I may be incorrect but the suspicion, which looms in my mind as a person who was in the bar for 32 years and in the bench for 10 years, is dangerous and must be removed by the persons concerned in the scenario,” he added.

The caretaker government had been speaking of working for a respectful solution to the crisis that arose following arrest of university teachers and students. After releasing the four DU teachers–of them three were convicted by a court and pardoned by the president–the education adviser Tuesday said the government brought a respectful solution to the crisis.

However, in their instant reaction, political leaders, legal experts and civil society members said conviction of three DU teachers and their release on presidential mercy have undermined the credibility of the legal process.

“The solution is neither respectful nor desirable for teachers and students, who fought for admittedly a just cause, as under the law the convictions will subsist forever although the sentences are pardoned,” Justice Rabbani said yesterday.

Advocate Masud Ahmed Talukder, an expert on criminal cases, said, “There was no evidence in the two cases to convict any teacher or student.”

In December, a Rajshahi court convicted four Rajshahi University (RU) teachers to two years’ imprisonment for violating the EPR by brining out a silent procession during unrest on the campus in August last year. The verdict triggered strong criticism as many said it was also based on poor evidence.

On Monday, a Dhaka court acquitted four DU teachers and 11 students of the charge of violating the EPR in last August in connection with violence on the DU campus but convicted four students to two years’ imprisonment. Interestingly, on Tuesday the court acquitted all students of the same charge in another case but sentenced three DU teachers to two years’ imprisonment.

Legal experts said if a person is acquitted of a charge in a case, he is usually acquitted of the same charge in other cases.

Following unrest on the DU campus, two cases were filed with Shahbagh Police Station on August 22 and 23 for breaching the EPR.

The complainants did not mention any name in the first information report (FIR) and made 4,000-5,000 unnamed persons, including students, accused in each case.

The joint forces detained Prof Anwar Hossain and Prof Harun-or-Rashid of DU on August 24.

Surprisingly, the investigation officers of the cases submitted separate charge sheets on September 9, accusing the same number of DU teachers and students for violating the EPR.

They claimed to have found 19 persons, including four teachers, involved in breaching the EPR.

Thousands of students had demonstrated on the DU campus defying the EPR during the campus violence in last August.

With the verdict on Tuesday, seven university teachers have so far been convicted for breaching the EPR in connection with the campus violence.

However, there are several examples of violation of the EPR earlier but the government did not take any action against the violators. This questioned the authorities’ neutrality in enforcing the EPR that bans holding rally or procession.

Thousands of Awami League (AL) workers took to the streets and chanted slogans to welcome party chief Sheikh Hasina returning from abroad last May; Progressive Democratic Party President Ferdous Ahmed Qureshi and his men brought out a motorcade procession in Manikganj while distributing relief among flood victims; a few people brought out a procession hailing the arrest of Hasina last July; and religious outfit Hizbut Tahrir brought out several processions in the capital in last September, denouncing a cartoon published in a national daily.

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