Justice delivered
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and had the verdict on the Narayanganj seven-murder case not delivered justice much of public faith on our judicial system would have surely been diminished. Not to mention the turmoil it would have created in the mind of family members of the victims. However, the point is if some commits a crime he pays heavily in the face of fair justice. This has been thoroughly reflected in the historic verdict on the Narayanganj seven-murder case, the day before yesterday.
The abduction and murder of seven individuals, including the Narayanganj City Corporation panel mayor and a senior lawyer of the district judges court in April 2014 caught worldwide attention when investigation revealed the outrageous involvement of some members of elite law enforcement agency, RAB. In the verdict, a former Awami League leader, three former RAB officers including a sacked commanding officer of RAB-11 and 22 more others were sentenced to death in this sensational murder case. Moreover, the district and sessions judge of Narayanganj also sentenced nine others to various jail terms ranging between seven and 10 years.
The judgment in this case has widely been welcomed as a landmark one, and more importantly it comes when public faith on our judicial system is not very encouraging. Be that as it may, the judgment, despite all pessimism, has proved that none, no matter how influential, is beyond the law. Like a bright ray of light at the end of a dark tunnel, the trial and verdict of this astounding case has also firmly established the fact that rule of law is still there and the judiciary is independently functioning to ensure it.
Analysing the verdict, however it was shocking to have marked such big-scale involvement of so many members of the RABa shocking 25 members out of the total 35 convicts. Drawing crucial lessons from it the government must now follow strict measures to both employ and monitor the actions of all of its law enforcement wings.
Naturally, most of the family members of those killed have expressed satisfaction over the judgment but it is expected that the verdict will be quickly implemented after all the legal procedures. The judgement should remain as a model case to serve as a deterrent against the recurrence of such heinous crimes in future.
