SC clears State to challenge verdict on 1998 custodial murder, orders ex-AC Akram to surrender

The Supreme Court has cleared the State to appeal against the acquittal of a former assistant commissioner of police’s Detective Branch in a case over custodial death of a youth in 1998.

The then AC Md Akram Hossain has also been ordered to surrender in court within a week after receiving a copy of this ruling.
 
The Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha-led four-member appeals bench on Sunday granted the state permission to appeal against the 2011 High Court verdict that acquitted Akram and 12 others of the charges of murdering student Shamim Reza Rubel.
 

A DB team led by then Sub-Inspector Hayatul Islam picked up Rubel on July 23, 1998, under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which allows police to detain anyone without a warrant over suspicious behaviour.

Rubel, who was a student of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB), however, died in police custody.

His family said he was tortured to death.

Additional Attorney General Md Momtaj Uddin Fakir argued for the State while senior lawyer Abdul Baset Majumdar represented Akram.
 
Fakir told bdnews24.com the High Court had acquitted 13 people including Akram in the Rubel murder case. 
 
“The court has granted the leave to appeal petition against Akram and ordered him to surrender in a lower court. Hearings on the appeal will be held then.”
 
Dhaka’s Additional Sessions Judge Court on June 17, 2002 sentenced the 13 accused to life in prison. Another accused named Mukuli Begum was jailed for one year.
 
The convicts had moved the High Court challenging that verdict.
 
The High Court on May 5, 2011, acquitted Akram and 12 others, but upheld the life imprisonment sentence of another accused, SI Hayatul Islam.
 
Those who were acquitted along with Akram are the then DB Inspector Aminul Islam, SI Amir Ahmed Tarek, Nurul Alam, ASI Abdul Karim, Havildar Nuruzzaman, constables Ratul Parvez, Mir Faruk, Mong She Wen, Abul Kalam Azad, Kamrul Hasan, Jakir Hossain and Mukuli.
 
The State in 2012 moved the Appellate Division for permission to appeal against the High Court verdict and the apex court gave its order after Sunday’s hearing.
 
Media reports say former AC Akram Hossain currently lives at his own residence ‘Hossain Villa’ near Benarasi Palli in Dhaka’s Mirpur.
 
According to him, who was awarded for his successes in catching several top terrorists including ‘Sweden’ Aslam, Bikash Kumar Biswas and ‘Joseph’, he did not know Rubel.
 
He had claimed that he was a victim of ‘professional jealousy’.