BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia filed a revision petition with the High Court seeking stay order on the trial proceedings in Zia Charitable Trust corruption case against her on Thursday.
In the petition, she challenged the court’s decision to continue the proceedings of the case in her absence.
Khaleda also pleaded the High Court to issue a rule upon the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and state to clarify why the court’s decision to conduct the trial proceedings of the case should not be cancelled, reports UNB.
On Septembers 20, a Dhaka court excused the BNP chief from personally appearing before the court and decided to continue with the trial proceedings in the dock in a makeshift court inside the premises of Old Dhaka jail in her absence.
The Special Court-5 in Dhaka ordered for running the trial proceedings of the case in her absence as she refused to appear before it.
Quoting the petition, her lawyer Kaiser Kamal told reporters that the court’s decision to run the trial proceedings of the case in an abandoned old jail is illegal and unconstitutional.
Moreover, a court cannot conduct the trial of an accused if he or she is physically unfit to appear before the court, he added.
Kaiser Kamal said they will move the petition before the HC very soon.
The BNP chairperson is now undergoing rigorous imprisonment in jail after being convicted in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on February 8.