‘Fake birthday’ case: Magistrate proceeded Khaleda’s bail plea in wrong way, says HC

The High Court has observed that the metropolitan magistrate concerned in Dhaka had proceeded in a wrong way with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s bail petition in the “fake” birthday celebration case.

“In the prevailing facts and circumstance of the present case, it is patent that in the name of receiving the execution report of warrant of arrest the magistrate concerned has unnecessarily prolonged the disposal of the prayer for bail of the accused which tantamount to abuse of the process of the court,” the HC said.

The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim made the observation in the full text of its order on a bail petition filed by Khaleda in connection with the case.

The HC released the full-text today after the judges signed the order. The bench had disposed of the bail petition on May 31.   

The judges said in the full text of order that, “Upon a plain reading of the above order, we have nohesitation to hold that the learned magistrate proceeded with the matter in a wrong way”.

“In a complain case where the accused herself has filed an application for issuance of production warrant along with a prayer for bail informing the court that she is already in custody in connection with another case, there is no necessity to wait for the report of the execution of warrant of arrest issued against her and as such the learned magistrate committed serious errorhaving filed the application for issuance of production warrant along with the prayer for bail and fixing the nextdate on July 5 for report of execution of warrant of arrest”, the HC judges said.

“Having considered the facts and circumstances of the present case as well as the legal proposition weare ofthe view that justice will be best served if we dispose of the application with the following observations and directions,” they [judges] said.

The HC ordered the magistrate concerned to dispose of the application for issuance of production warrant filed by the accused petitioner (Khaleda) as well as the prayer for bail which was kept with the record, expeditiously.

The magistrate concerned should bear in mind thatin a complaint case like the instant one there is nonecessity for the court to wait for the execution report of the warrant of arrest where the accused has informed that she has already been incarcerated in connection with another case, the HC judges said in the full text of order.

On May 31, the same HC bench had ordered the metropolitan magistrate courts concerned in Dhaka to expeditiously hear and dispose of the bail petitions filed by Khaleda in the cases filed on charges of observing “fake” birthday and “demeaning” the national flag.

Khaleda filed the petitions with the HC on May 22 seeking bail in the two cases lodged in Dhaka in 2016.

One of the cases was filed by Gazi Zahirul Islam, former joint general secretary of Dhaka Union of Journalists, on August 30, 2016, with a Dhaka court against Khaleda for allegedly celebrating her “fake” birthday on August 15 every year.

The second case was filed by AB Siddique, president of Bangladesh Jananetri Parishad, a pro-Awami League organisation, with a Dhaka court on November 3, 2016, accusing Khaleda and her late husband and former president Ziaur Rahman of “undermining” the country's map and the national flag.

Khaleda had filed two separate petitions with the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court in Dhaka in March this year seeking bail in the cases.

On May 17, courts of two metropolitan magistrates in Dhaka asked the officer-in-charge of Gulshan Police Station to submit on July 5 the reports on the execution of arrest warrants in the cases.

Metropolitan Magistrate MdKhurshid Alam was conducting the case filed for celebrating “fake” birthday on August 15 every year, while another Metropolitan Magistrate Md Ahsan Habib conducting the case filed for “undermining” the national flag.