Dhaka, March 20 -- The High Court has acquitted Lutfozzaman Babar, former state minister for home affairs in the BNP-Jamaat coalition government, by overturning his 17-year sentence in an arms case.

The verdict was delivered on Wednesday by a High Court bench comprising Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Nasreen Akhter after accepting Babar's appeal.

On October 30, 2007, Dhaka Metropolitan Special Tribunal No. 9 sentenced Babar to 17 years in prison for possessing an unlicensed revolver at his residence.

Babar was arrested from his home on May 28, 2007, during the military-backed caretaker government. The following day, he was shown as officially arrested. Five months later, during the emergency period that year, the court sentenc...