Saturday, April 20, 2024
A Dhaka court on Thursday set February 23 for holding a hearing on charges in two cases, one for observing a fake birthday on the National Mourning Day, and another for stigmatising the War of Liberation, lodged against the BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia.
Thursday was fixed for holding the indictment hearings in the two cases, but Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Asaduzzaman Noor reset the date, allowing a time plea of the defence.
Khaleda Zia's counsel Advocate Masud Ahmed Talukder filed the time plea, saying his client could not appear before the court due to her illness.
Journalist Gazi Jahirul Islam lodged the fake birthday case against Khaleda on August 30 in 2016.
According to the complainant, Khaleda from 1996 was celebrating her fake birthday on August 15, the day when Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was martyred along with most of his family members. She is doing this on purpose only to dishonour the Father of the Nation, it read.
The complainant also submitted copies of different newspaper reports on Khaleda's birthday, copies of her passport, marriage certificate and mark sheets, which indicates August 15 is not her birthday.
Jananetri Parishad President AB Siddiqui filed the other case on November 3 in 2016, against Khaleda Zia and her late husband Ziaur Rahman for stigmatising the War of Liberation by rehabilitating anti-Liberation War elements.
The BNP chief is on bail in both cases, as Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM Imrul Qayesh granted her bail on July 31, 2018.
