Kabir Humayun: The government has set up a makeshift court in the Old Dhaka central jail in order to hold a camera trial to punish BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia “illegally”, said Advocate Zainul Abedin, President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).
He also said that the court has been set up in the old central jail so that people cannot see or understand the illegal activities of the government in the name of trial, reports The Daily Star.
The SCBA president demanded of the government to withdraw the gazette notification issued on September 4.
Advocate Zainul urged the government to hold the trial of Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case against Khaleda at the administrative building of the old central jail.
The lawyer came up with the demand at a press conference organised by the SCBA at its auditorium.
According to the article 35 (3) of the constitution and Section 352 of the code of criminal procedure, a court will be set up at such a place where people can enter, he cited.
He added that the makeshift court which was set up in old central jail is contradictory to the constitution and the CrPC.
There is a possibility of suffocation if people stay at the court for some time, Zainul said adding that it is like what is seen in the cinema.
The SCBA president said that there is no legal scope to hold the trial against Khaleda in the “illegal” court.
The SCBA Secretary AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon was also present on the occasion.
Khaleda yesterday expressed a lack of confidence in the special court after she was produced before it inside the old Dhaka central jail.
“There is no justice here. Punish me as much as you want, punish me for as long as you want,” Khaleda told the makeshift court inside the jail where she has been serving time in another graft case for around seven months.
Earlier in February, the same court sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage graft case.
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