Dhaka, June 12 – A vacation bench of the High Court on Tuesday sent a petition filed by BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia challenging the government’s move to hold trials in 17 cases against her inside the Keraniganj Central Jail, to a regular bench. The HC vacation bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Md Khairul Alam passed the order. The regular benches will sit from June 16 after the vacation.
Senior lawyer AJ Mohammad Ali and Barrister Moudud Ahmed argued for the BNP chief while Additional Attorney General Murad Reza represented the state and Khurshid Alam Khan stood for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
After the court order, Barrister Moudud said they were supposed to submit gazettes on shifting the court to the Keraniganj jail before the court but they could not as they are yet to get the gazettes.
On May 28, Barrister Kayser Kamal filed the writ petition on behalf of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.
The Law Ministry on May 13 issued separate gazette notifications about setting up a makeshift court inside Keraniganj jail and holding
A newly-constructed building-2 of the central jail was declared the makeshift court as per the sub-section 2 of section 9 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Khaleda Zia, a former prime minister, has been in the prison since February 8 last year after she was convicted of corruption. Her party claims that the cases against her are politically motivated and blames the government of plotting to keep her out of national politics, a charge the government denies. – Court Correspondent
