Bribery case: Tarique exempted from personal court appearance

A special court Sunday dispensed with personal attendance of detained BNP leader Tarique Rahman during the trial proceedings in the Tk 21-crore Bashundhara bribery case, as a move on that score was made for sending him abroad for treatment.
After hearing both the defence and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) prosecution lawyers, Judge Shahed Noor Uddin granted his exemption petition on health grounds.

ACC public prosecutor Syed Shameem Ahsan Habib did not oppose the defence plea during the hearings.

Granting the application, the court that deals with high-profile graft cases under the current purge fixed July 10 as the next date for charge hearing on the Tk 21-crore bribery case, involving underhand dealings to cover up the murder of a Bashundhara Group director.

Tarique, detained ex-PM Khaleda Zia's elder son, who faces over a dozen graft cases, filed the application on June 25 under section 540A of the CrPC.

His move came after the court, upon an application, had dispensed with personal attendance of his detained younger brother Arafat Rahman Koko during the trial proceedings in the GATCO graft case on identical grounds. Koko suffers from acute lung problem along with neurological ailments.

But on June 29, when the matter came up for hearing, his counsel, all on a sudden, prayed for holding back the hearing for a week in consultation with the ACC public prosecutors that triggered resentment among the BNP- loyalist lawyers.

The relevant section of the CrPC empowers a judge to exempt a detained accused, who is incapable of staying before the court, from attendance during case proceedings.

Henceforth, Tarique, who suffers from acute spondelo-arthritis, will be represented by his lawyer during the process of trial, according to the provision of the law.

A counsel for Tarique told UNB that the application was moved as supplementary to an earlier petition submitted to the government for his treatment abroad on advice of his medical board.

As the court resumed at 12:35 pm, a public prosecutor for the ACC stood opposed to the beginning of hearing on Tarique's application without his signature and presence in the dock. The ACC PP asked the police to bring Tarique in the dock from the ambulance waiting outside the court.

Tarique's counsel Barrister Rafiqul Islam Mian, opposing the ACC prosecutor, told the court that there is no such provision under section 540A (Provision for inquiries and trial being held in the absence of accused in certain cases) of the CrPC. "It depends on the satisfaction of the court," he said, referring to the law. But the court turned down his argument.

Meanwhile, attending doctors of Tarique entered and told the court that it was not possible to bring down Tarique from the ambulance because of his health conditions. At one stage, the doctors declined to pay heed to the ACC prosecutor.

In view of the hassles in the corridors of court, the judge asked both the prosecution and the defence lawyers to get the application signed by the accused from the ambulance.

"Tariqaue, lying in the ambulance stretcher, put his signature on the application in presence of both the sides," says spot account of the scene.

The court hours over, a group of supporters of BNP and its front organizations thronged the high-security parliament entrance and raised slogans demanding release of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman, who are facing graft cases in the changed situation