The High Court yesterday rejected a petition filed by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s counsel seeking a directive to record fresh deposition of the plaintiff in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.
The bench of Justice Md Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice JBM Hassan rejected the petition.
Anti-Corruption Commission lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said no new deposition of the plaintiff would be recorded in the case as the court had rejected the petition. “The defence counsel will have ample opportunity to cross-examine the plaintiff.”
“Besides, there is no legal option to file such a petition. That is why the court rejected it,” he added.
But the defence counsel, Mahbub Uddin Khokon, said an appeal would be filed against the High Court order.
In the petition submitted on June 14, the defence pleaded with the court to expunge the deposition of the plaintiff and issue a ruling on the matter. The petition also sought an order to suspend case proceedings until the ruling was disposed of. The Special Judge Court 3 of Dhaka is holding the trial of the case.
The court has already recorded the testimony of the plaintiff, Harun-ur-Rashid, who is the director of the Anti-Corruption Commission, in one of the two corruption cases lodged by the commission.
The court heard the plaintiff’s testimony in the absence of Khaleda as she had skipped several hearings.
In the petition, Khaleda said the court had recorded the plaintiff’s testimony on six days in her absence.
The deposition of a witness must be recorded in the presence of the accused but the court did not follow the rule, she claimed in the petition.
On May 25, the court had rejected a plea by Khaleda’s lawyers to cancel the testimony and set June 18 for the next hearing.
The prosecution on that day argued that Khaleda had several times filed time petitions for her failure to appear in the court and those were granted.
But she filed no petition to halt case proceedings while she was absent, it said.