The High Court has acquitted all the 47 accused, including nine condemned convicts, from a case filed over attack on former prime minister Sheikh Hasina on a running train in Ishwardi in 1944.
An HC bench of Justice Muhammad Mahbub Ul Islam and Justice Hamidur Rahman delivered the judgement on Wednesday after holding hearing on the death reference.
The court said as the allegations against the accused were not proved, the court acquitted all the accused.
Barrister Kayser Kamal, Adv Mahbubur Rahman and Adv Maksud Alam were present in the court on behalf of the accused.
According to the case statement, on September 23, 1994, the former prime minister was traveling to Niphamari's Saidpur from Khulna by train and addressed several rallies at different railway stations on the way.
When the train reached Paksey station in Ishwardi, crude bombs were hurled and shots were fired aiming to it. Many were injured while Sheikh Hasina was unhurt.
Nazrul Islam, the then Ishwardi General Railway Police Station OC, filed a case against five members of the BNP and its associate bodies over the incident.
On July 3, 2019, a court in Pabna sentenced Zakaria Pintoo and eight others to death, while 25 individuals received life imprisonment and 13 others were sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The nine condemned convicts are AKM Akteruzzaman, former president of Ishwardi municipality BNP; Zakaria Pintu, general secretary of the BNP unit; Mokhlesur Rahman Bablu, ex-general secretary of the BNP unit and ex-mayor of Ishwardi municipality; Rezaul Karim Shahin, ex-leader of Ishwardi Government College Chhatra Dal unit; Azizur Rahman Shahin, convener of Ishwardi upazila Jubo Dal; and local BNP activists Shahidul Islam Atal, Shyamol, Mahabubur Rahman Polash and Shamsul Alam. They were also fined Tk 5 lakh each.
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