Dhaka, Jun 6 (Just News): The High Court Division in a full order released Wednesday said a metropolitan magistrate’s court in the capital abused the court process by delaying the disposal of Begum Khaleda Zia’s application seeking bail in a defamation case on the pretext of execution of warrant of arrest.
In a short order given on May 31, a bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim had directed Dhaka chief metropolitan magistrate or the concerned metropolitan magistrate to expeditiously dispose of the matter.
The metropolitan magistrate’s court filed her bail application for record and set July 5 for the hearing for receiving police’s report on execution of warrant of arrest issued against her on October 17, 2016.
The bench said it was also ‘a serious error’ on the part of the magistrate not to show the accused arrested after she informed him that she was already in jail in another case.
In the full order, the HC said that the magistrate ‘committed a serious error’ by setting July 5 for receiving the police report about execution of the warrant of arrest issued against Khaleda Zia in the defamation case.
‘We have no hesitation to hold that the learned magistrate proceed with the matter in a wrong way,’ said the full order.
The HC said that the magistrate should bear in his mind that there was no need for his court to wait for the arrest of warrant execution report from the police after the accused herself informed his court that she was already in jail in another case.
On August 30, 2016, Gazi Zahirul Islam, former joint general secretary of AL-backed Dhaka Union of Journalists, filed the defamation case against her in the Dhaka Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court alleging that she faked her birthdate.
(Justnews/ys/2320hr)
