BDR Carnage Trial
Heated debate over video footage
Defence and prosecution lawyers yesterday were locked in a heated debate over presenting a video footage at Metropolitan Session Judge's Court, Dhaka which is conducting the trial of the February 25-26, 2009 carnage in BDR's Pilkhana headquarters.
The video shows two of the accused, deputy assistant director (DAD) of the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) Towhidul Islam and signalman Salauddin, going to the prime minister's office to present their demands.
Prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kajol said they wanted to play the video as a witness, Nayek Tarun Kanti Roy, who gave his deposition and was cross-examined yesterday, identified the two from the video.
Tarun also identified Salauddin in a photograph taken during the mutiny, he added.
The debate ensued when Kajol, with the court's permission, asked the court staff to set up a temporary screen to play the video from a projector.
The visibly agitated defense lawyers told the court that they did not get a copy of the video. “We will not see it,” said defense counsel Aminul Islam.
Replying to the court's query, Kajol said there is no provision for copying evidence.
Aminul then stood up. Quoting section 9 of the evidence act, he said, “He (Tarun) is not a seizure list witness (a person who documented the evidence during the incident). He cannot produce the video since he did not capture it.”
Kajol replied that they will produce the person who recorded the video later at the court.
Meanwhile the video kept playing on the screen while the arguments continued. The court, in the recording of the court proceedings, counted it as “the video and photograph of DAD Touhid and Salauddin”.
In his deposition, Tarun said he saw three of the accused, nayek subedar Fazlul Karim, havildar Anisuzzaman and signalman Matiur Rahman, carrying Major Gazzali's body in a hessian over the road before Signal Sector around 11:30am on February 25, 2009.
Defense lawyer Faruk Ahammad, during the cross-examination, asked Tarun whether he knew that Major Gazzali's body was identified 10 months after the mutiny.
“I did not know that,” replied Tarun. “You did not see them carrying the body,” accused Faruk. That is not true, answered Tarun.
The court, set up temporarily at the Alia Madrasa playground of the capital's Bakshibazar, was adjourned till January 30.
Fifty seven top and mid-ranking army officers of the erstwhile BDR, now Border Guard Bangladesh, and 17 others were brutally killed in the carnage.
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