State Minister for Law Qamrul Islam yesterday brushed aside Suranjit Sengupta's allegation that the home ministry did not take the law ministry's opinion on the presidential clemency to death-row convict AHM Biplob.
Talking to The Daily Star last night, he said Suranjit might have made the comments without knowing the facts.
Biplob, son of Laxmipur AL leader Abu Taher, was convicted in BNP leader Nurul Islam murder case. He is now serving life sentences at Laxmipur District Jail in two other murder cases.
Meanwhile, Suranjit, senior AL lawmaker and chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the law ministry, said he had made the comment after talking to Law Minister Shafique Ahmed.
"I talked to the law minister earlier. He told me he knew nothing about it, and that is why I made the comment. But later I heard that opinion was received from the law ministry," he said.
The standing committee at its next meeting will look into the basis of the law ministry's recommendation for the clemency, added Suranjit.
Qamrul maintained that the president pardoned Biplob after receiving the law ministry's opinion. The ministry opined in favour of Biplob's reprieve, as he "had been convicted under the influence of the then BNP government".
The state minister also claimed the president acted as per the constitutional provisions and the home and law ministries did not do anything wrong.
Nobody was named in the first information report of the murder case. Police at first submitted a final report, but the then law minister Moudud Ahmed and some other BNP lawmakers put pressure on the victim's wife to implicate Biplob and his family members as they support AL, continued Qamrul.
Later, the law enforcers pressed charges against 24 people on instructions of Moudud.
The law ministry has found this all after examining the relevant documents and evidence.
The Daily Star could not reach Law Minister Shafique Ahmed for comments as he was abroad.
Soruce : The Daily Star
