A special judge's court Wednesday further deferred hearing in another power plant-related graft case against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina by five days, as she fell sick in custody, reports UNB.
On Feb 7, the court had deferred the hearing on the case involving Khulna barge-mounted power-plant deal on the prosecution plea of lack of their readiness.
The court in the high-security parliament-bhaban complex resumed at 10:30 am Wednesday, without the Awami League chief, Hasina, in the dock.
However, another detained accused, former power and energy secretary Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, was produced before the court timely.
Judge M Firoz Alam informed the court about Hasina'a sickness, quoting medical report submitted by the jail authority.
"Her physical condition is not good enough to attend court. Her blood pressure is fluctuating," says the report.
On hearing about the sickness of Hasina, Barrister Shafique Ahmed, a top counsel for her, soon moved an application seeking her bail in view of the changed scenario following the Feb 6 High Court (HC) judgment.
Elaborating on the judgment, Shafique told the court that the HC had declared illegal government action in placing Azam J Chowdhury-filed case of extortion of Tk 30 million against Hasina for trial under the Emergency Power Rules and quashed the entire trial proceedings.
Citing Article 111 of the Constitution, Barrister Shafique submitted that rulings declared by either division of the Supreme Court should be binding on all courts subordinate to it.
He further submitted: "Since the alleged barge-mounted power-plant case is of similar nature, so the case is not tenable in the light of the HC verdict."
Charge hearing against Hasina's graft case deferred
FE Team | Published: February 14, 2008 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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