Dipu Moni gets 12-hour parole to attend husband's funeral

Former education minister and joint general secretary of the Awami League, whose activities are now banned, Dipu Moni has been granted a parole for 12 hours to attend the funeral of her husband Tawfique Nawaz.

Munshiganj District Magistrate and Deputy Commissioner Syeda Nurmahal Ashrafi approved her parole application, allowing her to be released from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm tomorrow, Thursday.

Dipu Moni’s lawyer, Gazi Faisal Islam, disclosed the information to reporters in front of the deputy commissioner’s office on Wednesday afternoon.

He said, “We had applied for a four-day parole. The deputy commissioner has approved a 12-hour parole. The release will be effective from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm on 20 August.”

Faisal Islam further said that Dipu Moni has completed two years in prison. Her husband had been ill for a long time. She had applied several times for permission to meet her husband outside prison, but was not granted it. She has now been given the opportunity to go on parole following her husband’s death.

Dipu Moni faces several cases over killings during the July mass uprising and is currently in the Munshiganj district jail. Following her husband’s death, her daughter Tani Dipaboli and lawyer Gazi Faisal Islam went to Munshiganj District Jail on Wednesday morning to seek her release on parole. Tani Dipaboli met her mother there. They later went to the deputy commissioner’s office to submit the parole application.

Dipu Moni’s husband, Tawfique Nawaz, died at 10:27 pm on Tuesday while undergoing treatment at Continental Hospital in Gulshan, Dhaka. He had been suffering from various complications involving his kidneys and liver for a long time. He was admitted to the hospital a few days ago after his physical condition deteriorated.

Dipu Moni will be taken from Munshiganj Jail under police escort at 6:00 am tomorrow, Thursday. According to the family’s decision, the body of the late Tawfique Nawaz will be taken to his residence in Kalabagan, Dhaka, tomorrow morning. Dipu Moni will see her husband’s body there. The body will then be taken to Azad Mosque in Gulshan. Following the janaza and prayers after Zuhr, he will be buried at Banani Graveyard.

Explaining the legal basis for her parole, lawyer Faisal Islam said the prison law and regulations provide for 12-hour parole during daylight hours. In this case, the district magistrate has the authority to grant parole. He said they had received the 12-hour parole under that provision.

“We received this parole legally. The government could have granted parole for a longer period if it wanted to,” he said.