Dhaka: A Bangladeshi court has dismissed on technical grounds a sedition case filed against three fundamentalist Jamaat e-Islami leaders for their alleged role and comments opposing the 1971 Liberation War.

The court in its order said that the police had failed to take the mandatory approval from the government for filing the sedition case against Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid and Abdul Quader Molla and former Islami Bank chairman Shah Md Abdul Hannan.

Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Emran Hossain Chowdhury said the police had a chance to get the government approval but did not do so and ordered the concerned police officer to register a "regular" case against the three and submit a report after an investigation.

Police, however, later told reporters that the complainant, a 1971 Liberation War veteran, should have obtained government approval before filing the case.

"As a policeman I know that this type of case requires government approval before it is filed. For this reason I did not take the complaint as a case. I also sought instructions from the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) court in this regard but it did not give any directive," police inspector Lutfor Rahman said.

But lawyers of the complainant Fazlur Rahman said police "deliberately proceeded" in such a way that the court had no option but to dismiss the case.
According to the case statement, the three were allegedly involved in anti-Liberation War activities and committed massacres by forming Al Badr, Al Shams and Razakar militia forces in 1971.

Source : PTI