Former Bangladesh Prime Minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia on Tuesday moved the High Court Division seeking bail in two separate cases.
In the two cases, Khaleda is accused of "undermining" the map and flag of Bangladesh, which also includes the distortion of the 1971 Liberation War in an event and celebrating her birthday with false information, Dhaka Tribune reported.
The 72-year-old leader claims August 15 as her birthday, which is considered a controversial matter in Bangladeshi politics.
This is because August 15 is the day when the family members of current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's family, including her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were assassinated.
As a result of their deaths, August 15 is officially declared as 'National Mourning Day of Bangladesh'. However, Khaleda's passport indicates August 19, 1945, as her birth date.
Masud Rana, one of Khaleda's lawyers said the petitions might be put up for hearing on Wednesday.
On November 3, 2016, Bangladesh Jananetri Parishad's President A.B. Siddique filed the first case against Khaleda in the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's court, as per the report.
An arrest warrant was issued for her in this case on November 12 last year. Her lawyers sought bail for her on April 12.
On August 30, 2016, former joint general secretary of Dhaka Union of Journalists, Gazi Zahirul Islam had filed the second case. Subsequently, the High Court ordered Khaleda's arrest on November 17 that year, the report said.
The former prime minister sought bail in this case on April 25, but the High Court fixed May 17 as the next hearing date. However, the court fixed July 5 for the next hearing in both the cases.
Earlier on February 8, Special Judge's Court-5 of Dhaka sentenced Khaleda to jail after it had found her and five others guilty in the Zia Orphanage graft case.
Khaleda along with her elder son Tarique Rahman and four others were sentenced to ten years of rigorous imprisonment along with imposing a fine of over 2.1 crore taka (approx Rs 1.6 crore).
The case was filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in July 2008, alleging misappropriation of funds amounting to 2.1 crore taka that were said to have come from a foreign bank in the form of grants for orphans.
On March 12, the High Court had granted a four-month bail to Khaleda. Following this, the Bangladesh Supreme Court upheld the bail order of the former prime minister on last Wednesday.
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