Court reschedules verdict on murder of JU student Zubair Ahmed to Feb 8

The verdict on the murder of Zubair Ahmed, a student of English department at Jahangirnagar University (JU), has been rescheduled after the accused were not produced in court from jail.

Judge ABM Nizamul Haq of Dhaka's Fourth Speedy Trial Tribunal fixed the date of the verdict on Feb 8, said the tribunal’s Special Prosecutor Taslima Yasmin Dipa.

”Even though the verdict was ready to be delivered, the judge postponed the date since the accused could not be produced in court due to the blockade”, she told the bdnews24.com.

After the trial over the last three years, on Jan 28, Judge Nizamul Haque had fixed the date for verdict on Feb 4.

The same day the court refused seven suspects’ bail and ordered them to jail.

They are Nazmul Hassan Plaban (Public Administration), Kamruzzaman Sohag (Philosophy), Mazahrul Islam and Mahmudul Hasan (History), Shafiul Alam Setu and Abhinandan Kundu aka Abhi (Statistics), and Nazmus Shakib Tapu (Microbiology).

The other accused are Ashiqul Islam Ashique, Khan Mohammed Riaz and Zahid Hasan (Zoology), Istiaque Mehbub Arup and Rashedul Islam Razu (Philosophy), Mahbub Akram (Government and Politics).

Among them Ashique, Riaz, Akram and Arup are absconding since the hearing was on. Mahbub, Akram and Najmus Sakib have confessed to their involvement in court.

The deceased Zubair and the accused are all leaders and members of the university unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student front of ruling Awami League.

Zubair, a 37th batch student at the Department of English, was brutally killed by rivals on Jan 8, 2012.

The then JU Registrar Hamidur Rahman filed a case over the murder with the Ashulia police.

The Investigation Officer Mir Shahin Shah Parvez filed a chargesheet on Apr 8, 2012 against 13 students of the university’s 37th batch. A year and a half later, the case was shifted to the Speedy Trial Tribunal.

After the death of Zubair, a student-teacher movement led to the resignation of the then Vice-Chancellor Professor Sharif Enamul Kabir.