Amidst the tense situation in India’s neighbouring Bangladesh, a court in the country has issued an arrest warrant against the ex-PM Sheikh Hasina. Others named in the warrant include her sister Shiekh Rehana, her daughter Tulip Rizwana Siddiq, who is serving as a British MP and 50 others who have been said to have alleged involvement in acquiring land using their political powers wrongly.
The court order was passed by Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Zakir Hossain, as reported in the Dhaka Tribune newspaper. The charge sheet regarding the case was submitted by ACC Assistant Director Aminul Islam and mentions 53 people who have been charged with corruption in the land acquisition case. The court, on the other hand, has scheduled the review of the orders for 27 April.
Other than the land scam case, the e-PM who flew to Bangladesh in August 2024 has also been charged with another case on the same day, along with 17 others. The Rajuk Plot allotment case mentions the names of Sheikh Hasina and her daughter Saima Wazed Putul, who was said to have influenced her mother, serving as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, to allot the plots to her instead of RAJUK.
The chairman of ACC (Anti-corruption Commission), Mohammad Abdul Momen, said that the former Prime Minister was no different from a corrupt individual, adding that, “the process to bring back a corrupt fugitive is the same, whether it’s Hasina or anyone else”.
In 2023, Putul was chosen as the South East Asian regional director of the World Health Organisation, located in New Delhi.
Sheikh Hasina, who came to India last year after her 16-year rule ended following massive student-led protests against her and her party, Awami League, in the country, is also accused of many other charges, which include mass murders, crimes against humanity and enforced disappearances by the Bangladesh International Crime Tribunal.
The country is currently headed by an interim government run by former Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, who in his recent meeting with the Indian Prime Minister has requested him to begin the process of extradition of Sheikh Hasina, who continues to stay in India after months of her overthrow in Bangladesh.
