Court Correspondent :
A Dhaka court on Tuesday sent BNP leader (retired) Major Md Hafiz Uddin Ahmed to the jail in a 2011 political violence case in which he was sentenced to 21 months in prison.
Metropolitan Magistrate Rajesh Chowdhury of Dhaka CMM Court passed the order rejecting the bail petition of BNP leader Hafiz, who appeared before the court in a wheelchair. The court also directed the jail authority to provide him first class division in jail custody following the Jail Code.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Hafiz’s lawyer Taherul Islam Tauhid said they would file an appeal with the higher court challenging the legality of the sentence, so his client should be granted bail.
On December 28 of last year, Major Hafiz, BNP Vice-Chairman (retired) Air Vice Marshal Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, and six others were imprisoned for different terms in a case filed over political violence in Dhaka’s Gulshan area in 2011.
Altaf, Hafiz and (retired) Major Md Hanif were sentenced to 21 months’ imprisonment while five others got 42-month sentences for illegally gathering and torching vehicles.
Of the convicts, Altaf was in the trial proceedings virtually from the jail when the court delivered the verdict.
Major Hafiz and six others were absent without taking any steps through their lawyers on that date.
The court also acquitted 11 other accused people as the charges against them were not proved.
During the trial, seven prosecution witnesses testified in the court.
According to the case documents, a group of leaders and activists of BNP and its front organizations illegally gathered on the street in front of Mohakhali Wireless Gate Panir Tank area of Gulshan and obstructed police from conducting their duties. They also attacked the law enforcers and vandalized and torched vehicles.
Police filed a case with Gulshan Police Station of the capital in connection with the incident.
