Bangladesh court grants bail to former speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury

She was recently arrested in connection with an attempted murder case of a protester injured during demonstrations against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024.

“Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury’s health condition is very poor, and due to various health issues, we requested bail for her on medical grounds”, her lawyer, A B M Hamidul Mishbah, told ANI over the phone.

He further claimed the case was fabricated and said the court had taken the circumstances into account while granting bail.

“We believe this case is fabricated, as Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury is a person of a very clean image. After considering all of this, the court granted her bail”, Mishbah added.

“There is now no obstacle to Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury’s release; however, she is currently in Kashimpur Jail near Dhaka. Once a copy of the court’s bail order reaches that prison, she will be able to be released. As of now, the order has not yet reached, but once it does, she can be freed at any time”, the lawyer said.

According to The Daily Star, Mst Kawalin Nahar, senior jail superintendent of Kashimpur Women’s Central Jail in Gazipur, said that Shirin Sharmin was released at 6:28 pm.

Earlier in the day, the court had rejected a two-day remand plea filed by detectives and instead ordered that she be sent to jail.

The case was originally filed on May 25, 2025, by Mohammad Ashraful, who accused Sheikh Hasina and 129 others of involvement. Following a court directive, Lalbagh Police Station registered the complaint as a First Information Report (FIR) on July 17, the Daily Star reported.

According to case documents, Ashraful was shot in Dhaka’s Azimpur on July 18, 2024.

Sharmin served as Speaker of Bangladesh’s Parliament from April 30, 2013, until her resignation on September 2, 2024, marking over a decade in one of the country’s most prominent constitutional roles.

Meanwhile, on April 7, the detectives arrested Shirin Sharmin from her residence in Dhanmondi in the capital, Dhaka.