BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia got permanent bail in two more cases filed for hurting religious sentiment of Muslims and making derogatory comments on Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 2014 and 2017 respectively.
The HC bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain and Justice Shahed Nuruddin granted Khaleda Zia permanent bail in the two cases on Thursday after hearing two separate rules in connection with the cases.
The higher court delivered the order as the BNP chief did not misuse the ad-interim bail granted by it earlier in the cases.
Following the permanent bail in the two cases, Khaleda Zia secured permanent bail in four out of 37 cases, said her lawyer Kayser Kamal.
AB Siddique, president of Bangladesh Jananetri Parishad, a pro-AL organisation, filed a case with a Dhaka court on October 21 in 2014, claiming that on October 14 of the same year, Khaleda Zia at a programme at the Engineers Institution Bangladesh (IEB) in Dhaka said ‘the ruling party’s (AL)
professed secularism was nothing but a sham’.
The plaintiff said that Khaleda Zia’s remarks hurt the religious sentiments of the Muslim community.
In another defamation case filed with a Dhaka court on January 25 in 2017, he (AB Siddique) claimed that Khaleda Zia at a programme in IEB said that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had not wanted independence of Bangladesh, rather he (Sheikh Mujib) had wanted to be prime minister of Pakistan. The people went to war after General Ziaur Rahman announced the War of Independence.”
Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), the student body of the BNP, arranged the programme on December 31 in 2016.
Khaleda Zia had also criticized the Awami League government, saying that under the regime, corruption in the name of development was rife and the minorities were being persecuted.
Following two separate bail petitions filed by Khaleda Zia, the High Court on June 18 in 2019 granted the BNP chief a six-month bail and issued the rules asking the state why she should not be granted permanent bail in the cases. Later, the HC extended the orders of ad-interim bail at different times.
