The District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Anwarul Huq...

The District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Anwarul Huq condemned 12 people to death, and four others to rigorous imprisonment for life for the murder of eight people in a dispute over a six decimal piece of land in the Jorakhali village of Matlab thana in 1997. The 12 condemned were Shafiqul Islam Montu, Mozammel Huq, Salamat Pradhania, Shah Jamal and Adam Ali, present in the dock,and Manik (son of Nuru Jamadar), Shahajahan, Jahangir, Ledu, Fazlul Huq, Manik (son of Shafiullah Member) and Habibullah alias Habulla, sentenced in absentia. The murders were motivated by a dispute between Salamat Prodhania and his cousin Hazrat Ali. Prodhania hired thugs from Dhaka, and with the help of relatives strangled to death his cousin Hazrat Ali (60) and seven members of his family on the night of June 29, 1997. As soon as the judge pronounced the verdict, the convicts in the dock broke down in tears and prayed in folded hands for pardon.