A Dhaka court has postponed the verdict in the trial of Jahangirnagar University English student Zubair Ahmed murder as the defendant failed to attend the court due to ongoing hartal.

The verdict has now been set for February 8.

Speedy Trial Tribunal 4 Judge ABM Nizamul Haque re-fixed the date on Wednesday.

Defence lawyer Jamal Uddin Khandaker said his client could not be produced before the court on Wednesday on security grounds.

He said, ‘It was the duty of the prosecution to produce the accused before the court. But they have failed to do that. Even senior leaders are produced before the court amid hartal and blockade. If the state wanted, the accused could have been brought to the court. But due to some unknown reason, the state did not do that.’

Jamal Uddin also said that there is no accusation against the 7 persons who are in prison. The main accusation is against the 4 who are absconding.

State Counsel Taslima Yasmin Dipa said ‘both the tribunal and the state were prepared, but the proceedings could not start as the accused were not present.’

Zubair Ahmed, an English Department student of Jahangirnagar University, was hacked by some BCL activists on January 8, 2012 and he later succumbed to his injuries at a private hospital in capital the following day.

Later, the then Registrar of the university Hamidur Rahman filed a murder case with Ashulia police station in this connection.

Ashulia police sub-inspector Mir shahin Shah Pervez submitted a charge sheet against 13 students of the university on April 8, 2012.

The accused are- Shafiul Alam Setu, Abhinandan Kundu of Statistics, Nazmul Hassan Plaban of Public Administration, Kamruzzaman Sohag of Philosophy, Mazahrul Islam and Mahmudul Hasan of History, Nazmus Shakib Tapu of Microbiology, Ashiqul Islam Ashique, Khan Mohammed Riaz and Zahid Hassan of Zoology, Istiaque Mehbub Arup and Rashedul Islam Razu of Philosophy and Mahbub Akram of Government and Politics department.

Among them Ashique, Riaz, Akram and Arup fled from the court during a hearing.

Later, the case was shifted to the Speedy Trial Tribunal and the tribunal framed charges against the 13 BCL activists on September 8, 2013.

Earlier, the court sent the 7 accused persons who were on bail to jail fixing February 4 as the day for delivering verdict.