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Law Minister Anisul Huq on Sunday rejected the application filed for requesting Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia’s overseas treatment.
The minister said Khaleda Zia must go to jail before she can go abroad for medical treatment.
Anisul Huq said according to Section 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, if an application is disposed of once, there is no opportunity to reconsider it. For this reason, an opinion has been sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs explaining sub-sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of Section 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
It states that once an application has been disposed of under Section 401, it is a “past and closed transaction” and there is no chance of reopening it, he added. He said this while replying to a question from journalists at the Secretariat on Sunday.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also said Khaleda Zia must go back to prison before seeking approval for treatment abroad.
She made the statement during an interview with Voice of America journalist Satarupa Barua, which aired on Saturday.
She made the statement during an interview with Voice of America journalist Satarupa Barua, which aired on Saturday.
They must seek court permission through an application to take her abroad. She can go [abroad] if the court permits her.
“We cannot intervene in court proceedings. My role as prime minister is limited to suspending her jail sentence on humanitarian grounds and granting her permission to remain at home,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina added.
On September 25, Khaleda Zia’s younger brother Shamim Iskander met Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and filed an application to send the BNP chief abroad for treatment. The Ministry of Home Affairs then sent the application to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.
BNP leaders have termed the denial from the government inhuman, ruthless and politically biased. BNP leaders have warned that they will wage countrywide agitations to drive home their demands.
BNP’s Legal Affairs Secretary Barrister Kayser Kamal criticizing the Law Ministry’s decision regarding Khaleda Zia’s treatment abroad said that the requirement for her to go to jail first before applying to the court is a joke. His remarks came immediately after Law Minister Anisul Huq rejected the application filed for requesting BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s overseas treatment on Sunday.
Barrister Kayser Kamal said that this decision once again proved that there is no rule of law in the country. BNP chairperson has been made the subject of a cruel joke through this decision. He said section 401 of the Criminal Procedure Code clearly states that the government can release her by executive order.
Kayser Kamal mentioning the inconsistency in the law minister’s statement said that law minister earlier publicly stated that any application on behalf of Khaleda Zia would be carefully considered.
He said in response on September 25, Khaleda Zia’s younger brother Shamim Iskander met Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and submitted an application to send the BNP chief abroad for treatment.
The Ministry of Home Affairs then sent the application to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. Shamim Iskander alleged that the appeal was not assessed legally but rather politically. The decision reflects the government’s political antagonism towards BNP, Shamim Iskander commented.
