Shawdesh Desk:

A Dhaka metropolitan magistrate court on Thursday sentenced eight leaders and activists of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalists Party, including its vice-chairmen Air Vice Marshal (retired) Altaf Hossain Chowdhury and Major (retired) Md Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, to different terms of imprisonment in a case filed on charges of violence in Gulshan area in Dhaka in 2011.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Rajesh Chowdhury handed down the verdict, acquitting 11 other accused as the charges against them were not proven in the case.

The court sentenced Altaf Hossain, also a former home minister, Hafiz Uddin, and Major (retired) Md Hanif to 21 months in jail.

It also sentenced five other BNP people including Awal Khan, Md. Russell, Moinul Islam, Babul Hossain alias Babu, and Alamgir Hossain to 42 months in jail in the case.

A total of seven prosecution witnesses testified before the court on different dates.

According to the case documents, a group of leaders and activists of the BNP gathered on the road in front of the Mohakhali Wireless Gate Panir Tank area in Gulshan, and they attacked the police and obstructed their ability to discharge their duties.

The BNP people also vandalised and torched vehicles.

Later, police filed a case with Gulshan Police Station over the incident.