Ashutosh Sarkar

The family members of 2009 Pilkhana massacre victims say they are still in the dark about the reasons behind such a bloodshed and who masterminded the killing of so many people.

The High Court yesterday came down heavily on a section of Bangladesh Bank officials over their alleged links with financial scams involving People’s Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (PLFSL), a non-bank financial institution.

Incarcerated for over nine months, writer Mushtaq Ahmed and cartoonist Ahmed Kishore were brought into the courtroom 11 days ago and produced before a judge.

A High Court verdict yesterday said if perpetrators were successful in implementing their plan to blast two powerful bombs, weighing 76kg and 40kg respectively, in Gopalganj’s Kotalipara in July 2000, when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was supposed to address a rally there, the incident would be similar to the August 15 massacre.

The High Court has observed in a verdict that it is about time corrupt military and civil officials and staffers, and judges were put before the court of people in order to establish the rule of law.

The government attempt to get a corruption case withdrawn in Sylhet is a “naked interference” into the affairs of the Anti-Corruption Commission, observed the High Court.

The High Court has observed that police authorities have miserably failed to hold a handful of corrupt officials accountable, for which the higher police authorities cannot absolve responsibility.

The High Court has observed that a handful of corrupt police officials became errant and their higher authorities have miserably failed to hold them accountable, for which the higher police authorities cannot absolve responsibility.

Referring to Ekattor TV allowing Proshanta Kumar Halder to participate in a live talk show and interview, the High Court has observed that no one accused or convicted of non-bailable, cognisable offences is entitled to any comment or interview through the media.

The High Court has observed that a section of Bangladesh Bank officials, tasked with monitoring the activities of banks and financial institutions, have been harbouring financial thugs for personal gains.

The High Court has directed the inspector general of police to take steps necessary to train officers to complete investigating cases filed under the Digital Security Act in 75 days.

Fatiha Maskura, now 45, has been in the condemned cell of a jail since June 6, 2016, after a Sylhet court sentenced her to death for killing her husband Ibrahim Abu Khalil Al Hafiz. Ibharhim was killed on May 18, 2015, following a family dispute, according to the case statement.

After so many years, people are still waiting to see justice for the crimes committed during the Liberation War, as appeal hearings of 27 war-crime cases were halted for years at the Supreme Court (SC).

The High Court is expected to start soon the hearing on the death references and appeals against the verdict of the August 21 grenade attack cases, as the paper books have already been prepared and appeals accepted for hearing.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has ruled that life imprisonment means a convict will remain behind bars for 30 years and will get remission and deduction benefits under relevant laws if it is not specifically mentioned in the verdict that the convict is sentenced to imprisonment until natural death.

Nine years have passed after two separate appeals were filed with the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division challenging the High Court verdict that declared the Chattogram Hill Tracts Regional Council illegal and unconstitutional.

The High Court is yet to dispose of an 11-year-old writ petition that challenged the legality of empowering administrative officials to perform judicial functions.

Eight months have passed since a judicial probe committee submitted an inquiry report to the High Court over the “partial negligence” of Dhaka city corporations regarding last year’s dengue outbreak in the capital.

It has been 45 years since, on this very day in 1975, four national leaders were assassinated at the Dhaka Central Jail.

Over three years ago, the High Court directed the administration of the Supreme Court to form a cell to monitor whether the trials of cases filed under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, 2000 are completed in 180 days.