Defamation Case

Ershad asked to submit statement by May 25

20 April 2010, 18:00 PM

Court Correspondent

A Dhaka court yesterday asked Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad to submit written statement by May 25 in a Tk 60 crore defamation case filed against him for torturing his estranged wife Bidisha Siddique between 2005 and 2007. Judge Imrul Kayesh of the First Joint District Judge's Court passed the order after Ershad's lawyers filed a petition seeking time to submit written statement against the suit. Bidisha filed the case on March 18 mentioning that Ershad tortured her at home and police tortured her in custody in connection with false cases filed by Ershad between 2005 and 2007. In her plaint, Bidisha said she was arrested on June 4 in 2005 from her Baridhara residence after Ershad charged her with stealing a cellphone set and embezzlement of around Tk 7.5 lakh. At the instruction of Ershad, the police tortured her in the name of interrogation in their custody, she added. Ershad also expelled her from the party and filed several other criminal cases against her. But the High Court had granted her bails in all cases and later she was released on bail.