The six-member Appellate Division bench, led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, delivered the order on June 27 after hearing a petition seeking review of its earlier verdict.
However, journalists came to know about the matter on Monday.
The court also described the order sending Azmat to jail as ‘illogical and unfortunate’.
Azmat, a former assistant teacher of Bhengula High School at Ghoramara in Gopalpur upazila of Tangail and resident of Tarakandi village in Sarishabari, had been in jail since he was rearrested in the murder case in 2009 as the matter of presidential clemency was kept out of court’s notice.
The matter came to light after a report on the imprisonment of the former schoolteacher even after presidential clemency was published in a nation daily on October 25, 2018.
Later, a review petition was filed with the Appellate Division with the help of Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee.
Rezaul Karim, son of Kalim Uddin of Tarakandi, was killed in a clash over land dispute on April 1, 1987. A murder case was filed against Azmat in this connection.
Jamalpur District and Sessions Judge awarded him life imprisonment on March 8, 1989. Later, he appealed to the High Court as well as sought presidential clemency.
The President granted his appeal and pardoned him in 1991. He also released from jail on August 21, 1996.
On March 2, 2005, the High Court also acquitted him.
However, the state filed an appeal with the SC challenging the HC verdict on February 20, 2008 when the court ordered him to appear before the trial court.
Police arrested Azmat from his house on October 29, 2009 and since then he had been in jail.
On August 11, 2010, the Appellate Division overturned the HC judgment acquitting Azmat and upheld lower court’s verdict sentencing him to life imprisonment as it was not informed about the presidential clemency.