Khaleda to be tried inside Keraniganj jail
The government has shifted a makeshift court trying the jailed Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia from the old Dhaka Central Jail to newly built makeshift courtroom inside the Dhaka Central Jail at Keraniganj on the outskirts of the capital.
The law ministry issued a gazette on Sunday stating that the Special Judge’s Court 9 would hold trial in the case in the makeshift courtroom at the newly constructed building in front of the Dhaka Central Jail at Keraniganj instead of the makeshift courtroom in administrative building of the old Dhaka Central Jail, on ‘security grounds’.
Anti-Corruption Commission prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kajol said that they were ready to hold the trial of former prime minister Khaleda Zia and others in the new courtroom at Keraniganj.
The prosecutor could not confirm whether Khaleda would be shifted to the Central Jail in Keraniganj shortly, but said the authorities would decide where she would stay during the trial.
He said that the court would sit at Keraniganj today as it was scheduled for today for the charge hearing in the GATCO graft case.
Khaleda would, however, not be produced before the court today because of her illness as she is at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital, said officials dealing with the case.
She was admitted to the hospital on April 1.
The rest 16 cases against Khaleda would also be tried at Keraniganj, said officials dealing with the cases.
In reaction to shifting of the courtroom, Khaleda’s lawyer Aminul Islam told New Age that the shifting of the court was a ‘cruel attitude’ of the state against a 75-year-old and the government did not want her lawyers to help her in getting legal assistance.
In reaction to shifting of the courtroom, Khaleda’s lawyer Aminul Islam told New Age that the shifting of the court was a ‘cruel attitude’ of the state against a 75-year-old and the government did not want her lawyers to help her in getting legal assistance.
In February, New Age reported that Khaleda would be shifted to new one-storey female section in Keraniganj jail.
Dhaka Central Jail officials said that 10 special cells were now at final stage inside the Keraniganj jail with better accommodation facilities for prisoners enjoying Division-I facilities.
They said that newly built female section of the jail would create rooms for 300 inmates.
Of the 300 inmates, 200 undertrials would be kept in a multi-storey building while 90 others would be kept in different specialised cells for adolescent, dangerous inmates, mentally challenged female and the rest 10 would be preserved for ‘distinguished female inmates’.
News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net