Govt refrains from forming commission to probe BDR mutiny

The Ministry of Home Affairs told the High Court that the government has refrained from taking the decision to constitute a commission for the time being as two cases related to the BDR mutiny are under trial in the Appellate Division.

Deputy Attorney General Tanim Khan conveyed this information to the High Court bench led by Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Debashish Roy Chowdhury on Sunday (December 15).

The issue (Pilkhana carnage) is of national importance and the government is considering it with utmost seriousness. However, no decision can be made at this stage as two cases in this regard are under trial, according to a memorandum signed by Md Mofizul Islam, assistant secretary of the Public Security Division under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

After the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government, the interim government announced that it will form a commission to investigate into the BDR carnage.

On 25-26 February 2009, a mutiny in the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) left 74 people, including 57 army officers, murdered at its Pilkhana headquarters in the capital.

On 5 November 2013, a Dhaka court handed down death sentences to 150 BDR members and two civilians, and life imprisonment to 160 others in this connection.

On 27 November 2017, the High Court confirmed the death penalty for 139 out of the 152 convicts.

Following the heinous killings of the army officers, the government renamed the mutiny-hit paramilitary force BDR as the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), changing its logo as well as uniform.