Gono Adalat (people's court) was a mock trial held to Bangladesh of those responsible for the

1971 Bangladesh Genocide The Bangladesh genocide was the ethnic cleansing of Bengalis residing in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) during the Bangladesh Liberation War, perpetrated by the Pakistan Army and the Razakar (Pakistan), Razakars. It began on 25 March 1971, as ...

. It was not an official trial and did not have any legal basis but was widely popular. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party led government filed cases against the organizers of the Gono Adalat which were withdrawn by the next caretaker government. The trial was led by

Jahanara Imam Jahanara Imam (3 May 1929 – 26 June 1994) was a Bangladeshi writer and political activist. She is known for her efforts to bring those accused of committing war crimes in the Bangladesh Liberation War to trial. She has been called "Shaheed Jan ...

History

and other activists created the Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Committee on 19 January 1992. The committee campaigned for the trails of collaborators of Pakistan Army who have accused of involvement in the Bangladesh Genocide during the Bangladesh Liberation war in 1971. On 26 March 1992, the Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Committee established the Gono Adalat to hold public mock trials of the alleged collaborators. The movement began after

Ghulam Azam Ghulam Azam (7 November 192223 October 2014) was Bangladeshi politician and writer who served as Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. He was vocal in gaining support for Operation Searchlight, a crackdown o ...

was appointed the head of

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is the largest Islamist political party in Bangladesh. The origin of the party can be traced back to the original faction founded by Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi in 1941. The predecessor of Jamaat which is known as Ja ...

in December 1991. The court tried Ghulam Azam, found him guilty and sentenced him to death. The court held trials in Suhrawardy Udyan, the site of the surrender of Pakistani forces at the end of Bangladesh Liberation war. Former Supreme Court Justice Debesh Bhattacharya was a member of the Gono Adalat.

Reception

The Government of Bangladesh, then formed by

Bangladesh Nationalist Party The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (), popularly abbreviated as BNP (), is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. It was founded on 1 September 1978 by President of Bangladesh, President Ziaur Rahman, wit ...

, was against the Gona Adalat. It filed charges against 28 organizers including Jahanara Imam and Shahriar Kabir over the Gono Adalat. The neutral Caretaker Government led by Justice Habibur Rahman withdrew the charges against them in 1995. The Bangladesh Nationalist party was politically aligned with the Islamist

party. The Gono Adalat had the support of the then opposition party,

Awami League The Awami League, officially known as Bangladesh Awami League, is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, the party played the leading role in achievin ...

. The verdicts of the Gono Adalat were endorsed by 16 non-governmental organizations. In May 2016, the prosecution of the

International Crimes Tribunal (Bangladesh) The International Crimes Tribunal (Bangladesh), abbreviated as, ICT (Bangladesh), is a domestic war crimes tribunal in Bangladesh set up in 2009 to investigate and prosecute suspects for the genocide committed in 1971 by the Pakistan Army and ...

dedicated a verdict to the founder of Gono Adalat Jahanara Imam.

References

1992 establishments in Bangladesh Organisations based in Dhaka Political movements in Bangladesh {{Bangladesh-org-stub