A court in Dhaka on Tuesday set 17 February for holding hearing in two cases lodged against BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia.
Tuesday was fixed for holding indictment hearings in the two cases, but additional chief metropolitan magistrate Asaduzzaman Noor refixed the date, allowing a time plea of the defence.
Khaleda Zia’s counsel Advocate Masud Ahmed Talukder filed the time plea, saying his client could not appear before the court due to her illness.
Journalist Gazi Jahirul Islam lodged the fake birthday case against Khaleda on 30 August 2016.
According to the complainant, Khaleda from 1996 is celebrating her fake birthday on 15 August, the day when Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was martyred along with most of his family members. She is doing this on purpose only to dishonour the Father of the Nation.
The complainant also submitted copies of different newspaper reports on Khaleda’s birthday, copies of her passport, marriage certificate and mark sheets, which indicates her birthday on any other day but 15 August.
Jananetri Parishad president Ab Siddiqui filed the other case on 3 November 2016, against Khaleda Zia and her late husband Ziaur Rahman for stigmatizing the War of Liberation by rehabilitating anti- Liberation War elements.
The BNP chief is on bail in both the cases as Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge KM Imrul Qayesh granted her bail on 31 July 2018.