A court in Narail issued arrest warrants for BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and party standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy yesterday.

Narail Judicial Magistrate Amatul Morsheda issued the warrants in separate defamation cases filed by Sheikh Ashiq Billah in 2015 over comments Khaleda and Gayeshwar made separately on the number of Liberation War martyrs, Bangabandhu, and the Liberation War.

According to one of the cases, Khaleda, in her speech as the chief guest at a gathering of freedom fighters in Dhaka on December 21, 2015, made derogative remarks about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the number of martyrs in the war of independence.

Gayeshwar made derogative remarks about martyred intellectuals during a party meeting on December 25, 2015, said a case statement.

Billah of Jadavpur village in Kalia upazila filed the two cases with the Narail Sadar Amli Court on December 29, 2015.

At that time, the court directed the officer-in-charge of Narail Sadar Police Station to investigate and submit a report.

After getting   the report, the court reviewed the allegations on January 18 this year and summoned the accused.

The court issued arrest warrants as they did not show up before the court yesterday.