The High Court (HC) has issued a rule over formation of an independent probe commission on the murder of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members on August 15 in 1975.
In the rule, the higher court asked the government to explain in four weeks as to why it should not be directed to form a probe commission to reveal the names and entities of those involved in the killing of August 15.
In the rule, the court also asked the respondents to show the reason why their inaction to form the commission should not be declared illegal. Secretaries at the ministries of law, finance and home affairs and the Cabinet Division have been made respondents to the rule.
The HC bench of Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Mohammad Ali issued the rule on Monday (January 23) following a writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Subir Nandi Das seeking necessary directives on this issue.
The lawyer submitted the petition as a public interest litigation to the High Court on October 25 in 2021 including the references of commissions formed over the killings of statesmen of different countries of the world and the judgements of their courts in the killing cases.
He stated in the petition that the plan to murder Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was done very secretly and it is evident from the Indemnity Ordinance, 1975 that the assassination was the collective effort of conspirators and his (Bangabandhu) death signalled the end of democracy in the infant nation.
Advocate Abdul Alim Miah Jewel appeared for the petitioner during hearing of the petition.
Advocate Abdul Alim Miah Jewel said that the case over Bangabandhu killing was filed 21 years after the incident. Consequently, many of those involved in his assassination could not be named in the case as they had died by then.
“Again, many people who were not directly involved in the murder were a part of the conspiracy to kill Bangabandhu and later benefited from the murder. But they were not identified. Highlighting these issues, we have asked for guidance to form an independent commission of inquiry at the hearing,” said the lawyer.
