Retired Professor and Freedom Fighter Anwara Begum Granted Bail

Staff Correspondent

Retired professor of Jagannath University (JnU) and Freedom Fighter Anwara Begum has been granted bail in an attempted murder case.

Today, Monday, June 2, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court of Dhaka, presided over by Magistrate Minhajur Rahman, granted her bail upon a bond of Tk 500 after a hearing.

The bail petition stated that Professor Anwara Begum is 70 years old. She served Jagannath University for 35 years as a professor. The retired professor is a woman and is unwell. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, she is entitled to bail.

The state opposed the bail petition in court. After hearing arguments from both sides, the court granted Professor Anwara bail on a bond of Tk 500. Advocate Obaidul Islam represented Anwara Begum during the bail hearing.

On July 19, 2024, in the capital’s Rayshaheb Bazar area, Chhatra Dal leader Sujan Molla was injured during the Boicha Movement. Subsequently, on February 16, 2025, he filed an attempted murder case at Sutrapur Police Station, naming Anwara Begum as the 43rd accused in the case.

On May 29, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mostafizur Rahman denied her bail and ordered her to be sent to Kashimpur Women’s Central Jail in Gazipur.

Following this decision, the human rights organization Human Rights Forum Bangladesh (HRFB) condemned the move to imprison a 70-year-old woman and a Freedom Fighter without granting bail.

Anwara Begum is a veteran Freedom Fighter from the 1971 Liberation War. She was a professor in the Political Science Department at Jagannath University and also served as a member of the Bangladesh Public Service Commission (PSC).