On August 30, 2002, an attack took place on the motorcade of then-opposition leader Sheikh Hasina in Kalaroa, Satkhira. In the cases filed under the Arms Act and the Special Powers Act related to this incident, the High Court has acquitted all accused, including former BNP parliamentarian Habibul Islam Habib.

On Wednesday (October 22), a High Court bench comprising Justice Muhammad Mahbub Ul Islam and Justice Mubina Asaf delivered the verdict.

Senior advocates Mahbub Uddin Khokon and Aminul Islam represented the accused in court, while Deputy Attorney General Majibur Rahman appeared for the state.

Earlier, on April 18, 2023, a Satkhira court sentenced former MP Habibul Islam Habib and three others to life imprisonment in two separate cases filed under the Arms and Explosives Control Act and the Special Powers Act. The Special Tribunal-3 in Satkhira, presided over by Judge Bishwanath Mandal, also sentenced 45 other accused to seven years in prison each. The accused later filed separate appeals in the High Court.

Advocate Aminul Islam stated that 12 years after the 2002 attack on Sheikh Hasina’s motorcade, three separate cases were filed in 2014—one under the Penal Code, one under the Arms and Explosives Act, and one under the Special Powers Act.

He further noted that on February 3, 2021, the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Satkhira delivered a verdict in the Penal Code case, sentencing main accused Habibul Islam Habib and two others to 10 years in prison, while other accused received various terms of imprisonment. Habibul Islam was acquitted in this case, while the cases against other accused remain pending.

In 2023, the Satkhira court sentenced Habibul Islam and three others to life imprisonment and 45 others to seven years each in the two separate cases under the Arms and Explosives Act and the Special Powers Act. On Wednesday, the High Court acquitted all accused in these two cases.

According to police sources, on August 30, 2002, Sheikh Hasina, then the opposition leader, visited Satkhira Sadar Hospital to meet a rape victim. While returning to Jessore, her motorcade was attacked in front of the BNP office in Kalaroa Upazila.