Former Jatiya Sangsad speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury has recently given her fingerprints to obtain a new passport from the Department of Immigration and Passports, Dhaka.
The DIP officials said that the former Awami League lawmaker from Rangpur-6 constituency had her fingerprints scanned a few days ago as her diplomatic passport was revoked weeks after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government through a student-led mass uprising on August 5.
鈥榃e have taken her fingerprint as it is the basic right of a citizen. We did not issue a passport to her. If she wants a new passport, she will have to follow the legal procedure,鈥� said an official concerned.
Officials, however, could not confirm when she gave her fingerprints.
Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury could not be reached over the phone for comment as her phone was switched off.
The DIP revoked the diplomatic passports of the deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her former cabinet colleagues and former Members of Parliament on the ground that both her cabinet and the 12th parliament have already been dissolved.
Sheikh Hasina fled to India on August 5 carrying a valid diplomatic passport with her.
On September 2, Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury submitted her resignation letter to the president Mohammed Shahabuddin as speaker of the 12th Parliament and later a gazette was notified by the ministry of law in this regard.
Besides, on August 27, Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury and 16 others were accused in a case filed over the murder of a goldsmith, Milon, in Rangpur during the student-led mass uprising on July 19.
According to the case statement, on July 19, a clash broke out between students and Awami League leaders and activists during the protests in the City Bazaar area. The incident escalated when the police opened fire indiscriminately on the protesters under the orders of the accused.
Milon was hit by a bullet at that time and taken to Rangpur Medical College and Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Under pressure from the accused, the body was hurriedly buried without an autopsy, the plaintiff alleged in the case complaint.