A Dhaka court has exempted 66 pro-BNP lawyers, including president of Supreme Court Bar Association Barrister AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon, from the charges of a case filed over attacking policemen from a procession in the capital in 2023.
CMM court's Kotwali Police Station general registration officer (GRO) sub-inspector (SI) Al Amin confirmed the matter to the media. He said that Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Imran Ahammed passed the order on November 3.
"Kotwali Police Station SI Md Shahbuddin Hawlader filed the case on September 12, 2023. But investigation officer SI Mohammad Wali Ullah on October 10, 2024, filed final report in the case, as he did not find any evidence against the 66 lawyers. Accepting the final report, the court on November 3 exempted the accused from the charges," the Kotwali GRO said.
The other prominent accused, who were exempted from the charges, are- BNP's legal affairs secretary Barrister Kaiser Kamal, Advocate Ruhul Quddus Kazal, Advocate Md Omar Faruk Faruki and Advocate Qamrul Islam Sazal.
According to the case documents, accused lawyers gathered in front of Dhaka Bar Association building on September 12, 2023, under the banner of United Lawyers' Front and were chanting different anti-government slogans. As they brought out a procession and reached busy Johnson Road, police requested them to leave the busy street to pave the way for normal traffic.
Police said the lawyers at that moment started throwing brickbats at the law enforcers and beating them with bamboo sticks.
