Dhaka, Apr 15 (bdnews24.com) – The special court to try 623 border guards accused of mutiny in Pilkhana BDR headquarters issued arrest warrants against all the accused on Thursday.
The special court at the paramilitary force's headquarters took cognisance of the charges, against the 623 who are all from the 13 Rifles Battalion, brought by the plaintiff, Subedar Md Farid Uddin.
The court, headed by BDR director general Major General Moinul Islam, asked the authorities concerned to produce them before it on Saturday.
Among the accused, 330 were on duty at Pilkhana until Thursday, while the remaining 293 were detained in jail in the case filed with the New Market Police Station on Apr 6 last year, 40 days after the Feb 25-26 mutiny.
Over 70 people, 57 of them army officers deputed to the border force, were killed during the mutiny. Rebellion also spread to BDR outposts in several districts around the country.
BDR officers Lt Col AKM Golam Rabbani and Maj Syeed Hasan Taposh were the two other members of the judges' panel.
Deputy attorney general Mohammad Suhrawardy was present at the court as representative of the attorney general.
Commanding officer of the battalion Lt Col Akhter Hamid Khan performed as the prosecutor and was assisted by special prosecutors Mosharraf Hossain Kajal, Mohammad Shahnewaz Tipu and Manjur-e Alam.
The plaintiff contended that the accused participated in the mutiny despite their full knowledge of the laws and implications.
They had left the Darbar Hall and abstained from performing the responsibilities bestowed upon them ignoring the orders of the then director general Shakil Ahmed in a pre-planned manner, he added.
Farid Uddin said the mutineers put the lives of BDR officers and their family members at stake.
The prosecutor pleaded for exemplary punishment of the accused.
After their contention, the court took cognisance of the charges and ordered that the accused be sent to jail after arrest.
The court asked the prosecutor and others concerned to provide the copies of charges brought against them and statements of the witnesses.
Moreover, Thursday was set for framing charges of 86 accused BDR members of the Sadar Rifles Battalion, for which the plaintiff and acting commander of the battalion Subedar Shah Alam Bhuiyan requested time.
The court accepted his plea and set October 3 for framing charges.
Meanwhile, a circular issued by the establishment ministry on Thursday announced the appointment of Maj Gen Rafiqul Islam as the new director general of BDR to replace Maj Gen Mainul Islam.
Regarding this, Mainul said, "I've not yet received the transfer order."
It would take some more time for handing over the charge to the new BDR chief, he added.
The court will resume on Saturday.
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