Justice delayed must not become justice denied

Twenty-seven months after the July uprising, the families of those shot, beaten and maimed on the streets are still waiting. Of nearly 1,900 cases filed, not one has reached a verdict in the regular courts. Charge-sheets have been submitted in only 293 cases, while investigations remain incomplete in 1,499. The International Crimes Tribunal has moved faster, sentencing 24 people to death, Sheikh Hasina among them, yet even those verdicts await final disposal in the Appellate Division. A nation that pledged accountability in the name of its martyrs cannot be content with such a record.
The causes of the delay are not mysterious. Investigations are being conducted by a police force whose own conduct is in question in many of these cases. Prosecutors are overstretched, witnesses are frightened, and ordinary courts, built for routine crime, are being asked to try mass violence involving hundreds of accused. The remedies are within the government’s reach. It should set up dedicated tribunals or benches for July cases, working to fixed timelines. It should create an independent investigation unit under judicial supervision, insulated from the police chain of command. It must put in place a credible witness protection programme, appoint more prosecutors, and secure physical and digital evidence before it deteriorates. The Appellate Division, for its part, should hear the pending ICT appeals on a priority basis.
The price of delay is already being paid. Emboldened by the sluggish pace, the remnants of the ousted fascist regime are branding the uprising a “conspiracy” and rewriting history, while hatching fresh plots to stage a comeback. They could not be so brazen without cover. Officials and functionaries inside the administration who shield them, leak information, or quietly sabotage evidence and investigations must be identified and brought to book, whatever their rank. Tolerating such people in positions of trust makes a mockery of the sacrifices of July.
The stability of the country hinges on swift justice. A population that sees killers go unpunished will lose faith in the state, and those who ruled through fear will read hesitation as weakness. The government has repeated its commitment in Parliament, but pledges are no substitute for verdicts. As lawyers warn, witnesses grow harder to trace and families lose heart with every passing month. The promise of July was a new Bangladesh where power answers to the law. That promise will be kept only when the guilty are convicted, the protectors exposed, and the victims’ families finally granted the justice they have waited so long for.