BNP chief Khaleda charged in court in two more cases over 2015 blockade violence

BNP Chairperson KIhaleda Zia and 50 others have been charged in court in two cases over violence during last year’s blockade in the area under Darussalam Police Station in Dhaka.

The former prime minister was named as the instigator of violence in the two chargesheets filed at Dhaka’s Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court on Sunday.
 
The new ones have taken to six the count of chargesheets against Khaleda in cases over violence during the three months of blockade she called last year.
 
She was earlier charged in court along with others in two similar cases at Darussalam Police Station and two others at Jatrabarhi Police Station.
 
On Sunday, Metropolitan Magistrate Imdadul Haque set May 31 and June 1 for the approval and signing of the chargesheets, court police official Mirash Uddin said.
 
Police filed one of the cases over vandalising and torching a bus at the bypass next to Gabtoli bus terminal on Mar 3, 2015.
 
The others named in the chargesheet include BNP Joint Secretary General Amanullah Aman, Swechchhasebak Dal chief Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel and General Secretary Mir Sarafat Ali Sopu, Khaleda’s Press Secretary Maruf Kamal Khan and former Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal president Sultan Salahuddin Tuku.

The other case was started over the vandalism and torching of a bus in Baganbarhi on Feb 10 the same year.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has promised justice for the victims of violence, saying the BNP and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami unleashed the violence in the name of protests to destabilise the country.

BNP leaders, on the other hand, have been alleging the cases against Khaleda aim to keep her away from politics.