From office to court, then finally home

Khaleda Zia's Gulshan office was buzzing with activity on Saturday evening.

Party leaders and staffs, who had been staying at the office for the last three months, started packing their bags around 11:00pm.

They felt relieved that the BNP chairperson would return to her Gulshan residence after appearing before a Dhaka court.

"It was a great relief from the tensions we had been through for the last three months," Sayrul Kabir Khan, staff of BNP chief's Press Wing, told The Daily Star.

Khaleda, who was staying at the Gulshan office since January 3, opened the door of her room on the first floor around 8:00am yesterday.

She then had breakfast brought from her residence.

Around 9:00am, Khaleda's sister-in-law Kaniz Fatema arrived at the office and talked to her for a while.

Around 9:40am, the BNP chief along with her party leaders and staffs came down to the ground floor.

Party leaders and staffs hugged each other and said goodbye before parting, Shamsuddin Dider, staff of Khaleda's Press Wing, told this correspondent.

Khaleda got into her vehicle at 9:50am. She was accompanied by party Vice Chairman Selima Rahman, Mahila Dal General Secretary Shirin Sultana, and BNP chief's Special Assistant Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas.

Before the BNP chief left the office, her luggage was sent to her residence.

Her convoy headed for the court in the Bakshibazar area of Old Dhaka. Whenever the vehicle got stuck in traffic jam, she waved at small crowds on the roadside.

Khaleda reached the court at 10:35am.

Entering the courtroom, she stood next to a chair near the dock.

As Judge Abu Ahmed Jomadar of the Special Judge's Court-3 entered the courtroom, Khaleda's lawyer AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon sought the judge's permission to allow his client to sit.

Then the court proceedings began.

At one point, Khaleda angrily said, "Someone is trying to take my photo."

The judge asked the journalists not to take any photo inside the courtroom.

Khaleda then said it was a policeman, not any journalist, who tried to take her photo.

The judge then said, "If anyone has taken a photo [of Khaleda], delete it." If such a photo is uploaded on any website or facebook, legal action would be taken against the person responsible.

There was confusion among party men and journalists whether the BNP chief would go to her residence or party's Nayapaltan central office, which was opened on Saturday night after three months.

As the proceedings ended, Khaleda left the court around 11:40am and went straight to her residence “Firoza”.

As she reached home around 12:40pm, some photojournalists tried to enter the house premises. But her security staffs barred them.

The BNP chief asked the security men to allow them in. Several photojournalists then entered the premises and took her photo.

"How are you?" she was quoted by a photojournalist as asking journalists.

[The story is based on the descriptions given by some party leaders and staff.]