Wednesday, February 1, 2012

12 Jan 2012: Molla, Kamaruzzaman

Mollah
At first, in respect of the case of Abdul Kader Mollah, the defence counsel submitted that they only came to know this morning that there was a charge hearing of the accused that day., and they are not prepared at all and seek an adjournment

Justice Nizamul Haque saidin reply that it is their duty to find out on their own initiative.

Tajul Islam accepted that it is defence duty to know the situation but it had become a practice that the Register of the Tribunal always texted them informing them of the date of hearing, but in this case, it did not happen.

Justice Nizamul Haque replied that the Register is very busy nowadays. and he is not bound to send text reminding/informing the defence lawyer about he date of hearing. He just does it as a good practice.

Mr. Tajul further submitted that, in that case, the bench clerks could inform the defence lawyers.

Accepting this, Justice Nijamul Haque replied, “OK, you can give your cell number to our bench clerk, and they will inform you next time.” Then, the chairman granted and adjournment and decided that this charge hearing will be heard on Monday (16.01.2012)

Kamaruzzaman
Then the Tribunal asked the Chief Prosecutor Golam Arif Tipu to come to the dais in respect of  the case relating to Kamaruzzaman.

The Tribunal then asked him about re-submission of charge against the accused Kamaruzzaman as the prosecution was required to submit it by today. (Previously the Tribunal returned the charge on the ground that the charge had been prepared unsystematically).

The Chief Prosecutor then replied that they have already prepared the charge as directed by this Tribunal and they will submit the charge by 3:00 pm at the Office the Register of the Tribunal.

Sayedee
Then the Chief Prosecutor Golam Arif Tipu stated that the prosecution was unable to produce prosecution witness No. 13 Mr. Shahidul Islam Khan Salim before the Tribunal due to matters beyond their control and therefore they made a time prayer to the Tribunal to adjourn the matter until Sunday.

Defence counsel Tazul Islam then asked to the Tribunal as well as to the Prosecutor, what will happen if they fail produce the prosecution witness on Sunday as well? Who will be the next witness? We need to know because we need to get ready for his cross examination.

Justice Nizamul Haque then said that the prosecution is directed to let the defence know who will be the next witness by this afternoon.

Privileged meeting with accused
Tribunal then asked the defence to deal with the application it had made seeking a ‘privileged meeting’ – at which no other person could be present - under the Jail Code with the accused Matiur Rahman Nizami.

Justice Nizamul Haque asked Tajul Islam to tell the court which dates they wanted to meet their client and also who will go to meet him. He further explained, the defence can give them 3 names and any two of them can meet on the dates fixed by them.

Tazul said in reply that, now he can give 2 names right now i.e. he and Mr. Imran Siddiqui, he will let the Tribunal know the 3rd name by this afternoon after consulting other defence counsels (it is understood that the final name was Barrister Abdur Razzak). The Tribunal agreed.

After that, in consultation with the defence counsel Tajul Islam, the Tribunal then fixed 3 dates for the privileged meeting with the accued Matiur Rahman Nizami: 21.01.2012, 28.01.2012 and 11.02.2012 (all are Saturdays).

The Tribunal members again reminded journalists not to bring in mobile phones to the court.

No comments:

Post a Comment