A court in Dhaka has ordered the arrests of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and the party’s National Standing Committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy in a case over defaming 1971 martyrs.
AB Siddiqui, president of the pro-Awami League Jananetri Parishad, filed the case with the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in January 2016.
“Investigation officer filed his report with the court on Jul 8. On Wednesday, the court accepted it on Wednesday and ordered their arrest.
According to the case details, Khaleda had expressed her doubts on the Liberation War’s death toll figure, claiming on Dec 21, 2015 that the number of martyrs was debatable.
“There is a debate about how many hundreds of thousands were martyred in the Liberation War. Different books give different accounts,” she said.
Gayeshwar Roy, on Dec 25 the same year, supported Khaleda’s speech and demanded a ‘survey’ for accurate death tolls.
He also said the martyred intellectuals had ‘died like fools’ in 1971.