Gulam Rabbani :
The 11th Parliamentary election may be held in the month of December, but BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s release before the election seems remote.
Though her lawyers are hopeful about her release before the National Election, the complexity is increasing day by day in this regard. By this time, she obtained bail in most of the cases filed against her, including the Zia Orphanage Trust case. Besides, she has been serving a sentence from February 8 this year.
Barrister A M Mahbub Uddin Khokan, one of the counsels of Khaleda Zia, said, “BNP Chairperson got bail in all the cases in which she was shown arrest. But bail in two cases filed in Cumilla is held up technical ground. We have filed fresh bail petitions in those cases. Hope she will get bail in those cases.”
“A special court will deliver its judgment in the Zia Charitable Trust case on October 29. If she is not convicted in that case, she may be freed before the election,” Barrister Khokan said.
Barrister Kayser Kamal, another counsel for Khaleda Zia, said, “The High Court on March 12 granted bail to Khaleda Zia in the case in which she was sentenced. However, she has been languishing in custody without lawful authority. In our view, she is confined illegally and every single day she is in custody. It is an illegal confinement. The government intentionally has kept her in custody with an ulterior motive and on political consideration.”
After the High Court direction, the jail authorities admitted Khaleda Zia to the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) for her treatment. She is there for ad interim period.
Sources said, her party men are frustrated as there is a smog situation prevailing with her release before the election.
On February 8, the Special Judge’s Court-5 of Dhaka sentenced Khaleda to five years’ rigorous imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust case.
The HC on March 12 this year granted bail to Khaleda for four months in this case. The Appellate Division on May 16 upheld the HC’s bail order. Later, the HC extended the tenure of the bail order several times and finally it was extended till October 23.
Meanwhile, the HC is continuing the hearing on the appeal filed by Khaleda Zia challenging the lower court verdict that sentenced her to five years imprisonment in the case. The Appellate Division ordered to dispose the appeal hearing of the case by October 31.
Meanwhile, a special court recently set October 29 for delivering verdict in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and three other accused.
Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman of Dhaka Special Judge Court-5 passed the order as the defence repeatedly refrained from taking part in the hearing, sources said.
“The court has set numerous dates in the last two and a half years for hearing arguments in the case. But in spite of adjourning the proceedings time and again, the defence did not take part in the hearing. So, after concluding all the legal procedures, the court fixed October 29 for delivering judgment,” the court said in its order.
Khaleda filed a revision petition with the HC on September 27 challenging the legality of the trial court decision to continue the proceedings of the case in her absence. But on October 14, the High Court rejected her revision petition and cleared the way for the lower court to continue trial proceedings in her absence.
The High Court on October 14 asked Khaleda to file a fresh appeal for her bail in the case filed under the Special Powers Act in connection with an arson attack in Cumilla’s Chauddagram upazila in 2015.
During the hearing, the HC bench said, the appeal seeking Khaleda’s bail in the case was not filed properly as it did not include a certified copy of a Cumilla court’s order given on September 13 rejecting a petition seeking bail for the BNP chairperson in the case.
Another bail petition is pending with the Cumilla Judge Court in a murder case filed in Chauddagram Police Station.
