ICT-2 rejects prosecution plea

International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-2 on Tuesday rejected a petition filed by the prosecution pleading to accept testimonies recorded by investigation officer
(IO) of five prosecution witnesses (PW) as depositions against Syed Md Qaiser. In their petition, the prosecution mentioned of the PWs, three have died already and the rest, including former social welfare minister Enamul Haq Mostafa Shahid are bedridden. So, the prosecution pleaded to accept their testimonies recorded by the IO as deposition under section 19 (2) of the ICT act. But the tribunal while going through the petition and report filed by the prosecution, discovered that the IO Monowara Begum had already knew that these three witnesses have died and despite that she later included their names in the list of PWs. ‘It is clear from her report that she was very much informed with the matter that these three were dead. She herself wrote it in her report. Why she than included their names?’ asked Justice Obaidul Hassan, chairman of the three-member panel of ICT-2. The tribunal than rejected the petition right away and also set Wednesday to hold hearing on another petition of the prosecution filed for allowing them to submit some additional documents, according to BSS.