A writ petition has been filed with the High Court (HC), seeking its directives on the government to allow BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to go abroad for better treatment.
Advocate Md Eunus Ali Akond, a Supreme Court lawyer, filed the writ petition on Monday (December 20).
He submitted the writ petition as a public interest litigation, saying that there is no legal bar to allow Khaleda Zia to go abroad for better treatment on human ground under section 401 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and as per the Constitution and the International Human Rights Charter declared by the United Nations.
The lawyer told media that he would place the writ petition before the HC bench of Justice Mamnoon Rahman and Justice Khandaker Diliruzzaman for hearing on Tuesday (today).
Cabinet Secretary, Secretary to the President’s Office, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Secretary of Home Ministry and Secretary of Law Ministry were made respondents in the writ petition.
Eunus Ali Akond said, “I have filed the writ petition to protect the human rights of a sick person considering it as my responsibility. I did not file this writ being provoked by anyone else.”
Meanwhile, Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kajal, Secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), said the BNP and the pro-BNP lawyers have no link with the filing of the writ petition. “Eunus Ali Akond might have filed it from his own interest,” he said.
Earlier on December 5, Law Minister Anisul Huq had said that the government is assessing whether there is any legal option to allow BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia to go abroad for treatment.
Khaleda Zia, the 76-year-old former prime minister, has been receiving treatment at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka for various health complications since November 13.
The BNP chief’s medical board members on November 28 said that Khaleda Zia immediately needs to go abroad for better treatment as she was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis.
On behalf of her family, Khaleda Zia’s younger brother Shamim Iskander submitted an application to the Home Ministry on November 11 seeking permission to take her abroad for treatment.
Although the government earlier twice turned down such applications, it is taking time to dispose of the fresh plea of the BNP chief’s family.
On November 28, the Law Minister told Parliament that the BNP chief is now free as she is not in government custody. He also said that although Khaleda Zia was temporarily released on some conditions, there is no provision in the law to allow her to go abroad now until she submits a fresh petition after returning to jail.
