AMN
The Bangladesh High Court has upheld the death sentence of 139 erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles personnel, now Border Guards, over the killing of 74 people, including 57 Army officers, in the BDR Mutiny case of 2009. The High Court yesterday also upheld the life sentence of 146 convicts for their involvement in the carnage and jail term of 7 years to 4 convicts.
The gruesome case involving 850 accused in the Pilkhana headquarters is the single largest criminal case in the history of Bangladesh. 31 people acquitted by the lower court were also handed over life sentences by the high court . While delivering the verdict, the court observed that it appears that the BDR Mutiny was a conspiracy by a vested interest to hamper the stability and socio-economic safety of the country by destroying a trained and skilled professional force. The Mutiny which raged for two days during Feb 25-26 in 2009 occurred barely a month after a new government headed by Sheikh Hasina.