Bidisha Siddique Seeks Bail After Two-Year Prison Sentence in Dhaka

Bidisha Siddique, the former wife of late former president Hussain Muhammad Ershad, has formally applied for bail through her legal counsel at the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Wednesday, August 26, 2020. This legal development follows her high-profile arrest and sentencing in connection with a long-standing criminal matter that dates back more than a decade.

The legal proceedings against Siddique stem from a cheating case that was originally filed at the Gulshan police station way back in February 2008. The case wound its way through the judicial system for years before culminating in a verdict delivered by Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md. Jamshed Alam on May 20 of this year.

In that May 20 ruling, Magistrate Md. Jamshed Alam convicted Bidisha Siddique and handed down a sentence of two years in prison. In addition to the custodial sentence, the court ordered her to pay a fine of 10,000 takas, stipulating that failure to pay the fine would result in an additional one-month term of rigorous imprisonment.

Law enforcement authorities apprehended Siddique on Tuesday night at approximately 8:30 PM. The arrest took place at the Arabica Restaurant located in the Gulshan-2 area of the capital city, bringing the dormant enforcement aspect of the 2008 case to an immediate head.

With her arrest now executed and the two-year prison sentence officially triggered, Siddique's legal team has turned to the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court to secure her release. The court is now expected to review the bail application submitted on her behalf this Wednesday afternoon.