Court Correspondent :
The High Court Division yesterday granted six-month bail to BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia in two defamation cases filed against her.
Justice Muhammad Abdul Hafiz and Justice Kashefa Hussain passed the order on Tuesday after hearing a bail petition filed by Khaleda Zia’s lawyers.
“Both the cases are bail-able. But we had to come to the High Court as the lower court denied the bail. The High Court has granted six-month bail in each of the cases,” Khaleda Zia’s counsel Barrister Moudud Ahmed said after the order was issued. However, the former premier will not be released from the prison as she is convicted in two corruption cases. Deputy Attorney General Fazlur Rahman Khan represented the state in the court.
“Bangladesh Awami League promotes fake secularism in the party. In reality, they are the atheists. People irrespective of their religion are unsafe in their hands. The Awami League usurped the assets of people from the Hindu community when they came into power; they even attacked the Hindus,” Khaleda Zia had allegedly said in an event at the Engineers Institution of Bangladesh on Oct 14, 2014.
On October 21 of the same year, AB Siddique, President of the Janannetri Parishad, a pro-Awami League organization, filed a case against Khaleda Zia with a complaint that her statement hurt the religious sentiments of the people as well as it allegedly caused disunity among Hindus and Muslims.
The complainant had filed another defamation case against the BNP leader over a complaint of making derogatory remarks on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Awami League, on Jan 25, 2017.
According to the case details, Khaleda Zia made disdainful remarks on Bangabandhu and the Awami League in her speech as the chief guest in the founding anniversary of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the student wing of the BNP on Dec 31, 2016.
The Shahbagh police submitted the final report against the BNP chief on both cases on Jun 30, 2018 and the court issued an arrest warrant against her on Mar 20 considering the reports on both cases. Khaleda Zia’s lawyers then appealed for her bail to the High Court.
