Against the backdrop of strong dissatisfaction of the Supreme Court about the way the prosecution and the investigation agency of the war crimes tribunal are handling the 1971 war crimes cases, Law Minister Anisul Huq yesterday urged Chief Justice (CJ) Surendra Kumar Sinha to give observations about these in the upcoming verdict.
“Whatever the CJ has said is discernible. I learned it from the reports appearing in the media. The thing for me to do now is to know completely why the honourable chief justice has said this,” he said.
The minister was talking to newsmen after attending a seminar on arbitration in Dhaka.
“I believe he will for sure point this out in the upcoming verdict, and if he doesn’t do, I will take his advice for sure about what he had tried to say and why. After learning the matter completely, I will act to find a remedy in this regard,” Huq
added.
The Supreme Court on February 23 came down hard on the ICT prosecution and the investigation agency for their poor performance in dealing with the war crimes cases.
Earlier, the highest court in its observation in the verdict on the appeal of another Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee, blamed the prosecution and the investigation agency for their ‘incompetency’.
Chief Justice Sinha vented his anger when a five-member bench of the Supreme Court led by him was hearing an appeal filed by war crimes accused Mir Quasem Ali challenging his death penalty.
The bench gave the observation after receiving records and documents of International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), saying that the prosecution could not produce witnesses in some charges brought against Quasem.
During the hearing, the CJ said they are shocked at the performance of the prosecution and the investigators for their incompetence in dealing the war crimes cases.
Huge amount of money are being spent, but their responsibilities are not reflected in their performance, the CJ observed.
The attorney general was placing arguments before the apex court when the CJ made his observations.
Chief Justice Sinha told the attorney general that the judges were shocked to note that the prosecutors appear before the media and make statements immediately after a session of the case proceedings at the tribunal.
The CJ asked the attorney general why action is not being taken against the incompetent prosecutors and investigators.
The International Crimes Tribunal-2 on November 2, 2014, sentenced Quasem to death after finding him guilty on 10 charges of abducting, confining and torturing
people during the liberation war in 1971.
Earlier, the SC in a verdict on the case against war criminal Sayedee castigated the prosecutors and investigators for their poor performance in handling the case.