The High Court on Tuesday issued a rule asking why an order should not be given to form a national independent investigation committee to re-investigate the killings during the mutiny at the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) headquarters in the capital's Pilkhana on February 25-26 in 2009.
In the rule it also wanted to know why the inaction, or not taking a step, to form a committee in this regard shall not be declared illegal.
Home secretary, defense secretary, law secretary, cabinet secretary, director general of Boarder Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and inspector general of police have been asked to comply with the rule.
The HC bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Debasish Roy Chowdhury passed the order after hearing a writ petition filed by a Supreme Court (SC) lawyer.
Two SC lawyers, Md Tanvir Ahmed and Biplab Kumar Poddar, filed the writ petition recently as a public interest litigation.
The HC bench also directed the Ministry of Home Affairs to dispose of a representation submitted by the writ petitioners seeking to form a national independent investigation committee regarding the BDR mutiny within ten days. The HC bench also fixed November 24 for further hearing on the issue.
Meanwhile, Home Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury on Monday said that the government will carry out a reinvestigation into the 2009 killings at the Pilkhana headquarters of the erstwhile BDR.
"An investigation team will be formed soon," the adviser told reporters at the headquarters of the paramilitary force, now known as BGB.
The BDR mutiny on Feb 25-26, 2009, at the headquarters of the border security force, resulted in the deaths of 74 people, including 57 army officers. The incident sent shockwaves across the nation and drew international attention.
After the mutiny, the force was renamed from BDR to BGB and changes were made to their uniforms.While the mutiny was tried in the BGB court, the murder case was brought to a civilian court. Two cases emerged from the incident: one for murder and another under the explosives law.
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