Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader has said strict action will be taken if unwanted situation is created in the country regarding theBNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s bail hearing.
He said this after pro-BNP lawyers created menace inside the courtroom of Supreme Court after BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s bail hearing was deferred by a week on Thursday.
Quader said BNP is trying to make the country unstable and they are using Khaleda’s bail hearing to do that. “If such a thing happens, appropriate reply will be given.”
Quader, also the Road Transport and Bridges minister said this after paying homage at the grave of Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy on the occasion of his 56th death anniversary.
Earlier in the day, the full bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, fixed the verdict date for Khaleda’s bail plea on December 12, as Khaleda’s medical report was not submitted before it.
All six Appellate Division judges left the courtroom embarrassed after the senior lawyers failed to bring the situation under control.
Junior lawyers blocked the senior counsels from leaving the courtroom without a verdict.
Senior counsels Jainul Abedin, AJ Mohammad Ali, Khandaker Mahmud Hossain and Barrister Moudud Ahmed, who stood for Khaleda, tried to bring the situation under control and ordered the protesting lawyers to leave the premises.
They, however, stood their ground, refusing to leave without a verdict
On November 28, the court had asked the medical board formed at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) for Khaleda’s treatment to submit the report.
The BNP chairperson filed the appeal with the Appellate Division against a High Court order that had rejected her bail plea in the same case on November 14.
On July 31, a High Court bench rejected Khaleda's bail petition in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case, in which she was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment.
The court also ordered a status quo on the sub-ordinate court's order to confiscate around 69,421.49 acre of land bought in the name of the Zia Charitable Trust and asked it to send all of the documents related to this case to the apex court.
On April 30, the High Court accepted Khaleda’s appeal petition challenging a trial court verdict.
On November 18, 2018, Khaleda filed the appeal on 20 grounds, asking the court to scrap the verdict along with the fine and grant her bail.
Khaleda has been in jail since she was convicted in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018. She was found guilty in another corruption case later the same year, though her party claims both cases are politically motivated.
The BNP chief has been receiving treatment at the BSMMU since April 1 this year.
