A Dhaka court has scrapped a plea for a sedition case against BNP chief Khaleda Zia over her Washington Times article as the plaintiff had not taken prior permission from the government before filing the case.
The court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Saifur Rahman ruled against accepting the case on Thursday.
President of Bangabandhu Foundation, Moshiul Malek, had filed for starting proceedings against Khaleda on charges of sedition, as he alleged that her article in Washington Times last month was a ‘conspiracy against Bangladesh’s independence and sovereignty’, since she had called for intervention by Western powers, specially the US, to ‘save democracy’ in Bangladesh.
In his verdict, the judge said the plaintiff was not the appropriate authority to file the sedition case. “That’s why the plea is being rejected under the criminal code of procedure Section 196.”
Section 196 says that sedition cases can be filed only by a person who is a representative of the state or someone authorised by the state.
