Withdrawing harassment cases delayed as political affiliation not in docs: Law minister
The minister said that political affiliation is not mentioned in case documents, making it difficult to determine the exact number of harassment cases filed against leaders and activists of parties such as BNP and Jamaat.
Law Minister Asaduzzaman said in parliament today (30 April) that the process of withdrawing politically motivated harassment cases is ongoing, with a total of 23,865 cases already withdrawn.
However, the process is taking longer as the case documents do not mention political affiliation making it difficult to determine the exact number of harassment cases filed against leaders and activists of parties such as BNP and Jamaat. As a result, the government does not have precise statistics.
He shared the information on 30 April while responding to a written question from Pabna-3 MP Muhammad Ali Ashgar.
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Citing data from the BNP central office, he said that 142,983 "false and harassment" cases were filed against BNP leaders and activists between 2007 and 11 January 2025.
He also noted that the government does not have data on how many cases were filed against Jamaat leaders and activists during what he described as the "fascist period."
To address the issue, the government formed a four-member district-level committees on 5 March 2026, led by deputy commissioners, to review and recommend case withdrawals. These committees examine applications, FIRs, charge sheets (if applicable), and opinions from public prosecutors to determine whether a case was politically motivated and not in public interest.
A six-member central committee, headed by the law minister, was formed on 8 March to take final decisions based on these recommendations.
The minister added that efforts to withdraw remaining politically motivated cases are still underway.
