A case filed in a Tangail court accusing former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and 192 others of vote rigging and staging a dummy election in 2024 has been withdrawn within 48 hours of its filing.
Plaintiff Kamrul Hasan submitted a petition to withdraw the case at a Bhuapur upazila court under the district's Chief Judicial Magistrate Rumelia Sirajam.
Judge Rumelia heard the plaintiff and his lawyer Abu Rayhan Khan and ordered the case to be archived.
Among the accused were five individuals from Tangail.
Court Inspector Lutfor Rahman said the judge recorded the plaintiff's statement and listened to the arguments of the plaintiff's lawyer.
Following that, the court ordered the case to be archived, meaning there was no further need to proceed with the trial.
Earlier, on Monday, the case had been filed in the same court.
The inclusion of five local journalists as accused led to widespread protests throughout the district.
In response, on Tuesday, the plaintiff Kamrul Hasan submitted a no-objection letter to the court seeking removal of the journalists' names from the case.
Plaintiff’s lawyer Abu Rayhan said that the case had been filed branding the 12th general election held on January 7, 2024 as a dummy election and accusing it of vote rigging.
The plaintiff made Sheikh Hasina the key accused, naming a total of 193 individuals involved with the election process.
The judge had initially accepted the case, recorded the plaintiff’s statement, and instructed the officer-in-charge (OC) of Bhuapur police station to investigate and submit a report.
A follow-up hearing was scheduled for August 13.
However, on Tuesday, the plaintiff submitted a no-objection letter seeking removal of the five journalists from the case.
Finally, on Wednesday, the plaintiff filed to withdraw the case altogether, stating that he no longer wished to proceed with it.