23,865 politically motivated cases withdrawn so far: Law Minister

Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Md Asaduzzaman shared this information in parliament on Sunday, responding to a starred question from BNP’s reserved seat MP, Nilofer Chowdhury Moni

The government has withdrawn 23,865 “politically motivated” cases out of a total of 1,42,983 cases filed against BNP leaders and activists between 2007 and 11 January 2025.

The minister explained that since political affiliations are not explicitly recorded in first information reports (FIRs) during the filing of a case, the government does not possess definitive official statistics regarding the exact number of false and harassment cases.

He added that the government does not currently hold official figures regarding the number of cases filed against Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and activists during the Awami League regime.

Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Md Asaduzzaman shared this information in parliament on Sunday, responding to a starred question from BNP’s reserved seat MP, Nilofer Chowdhury Moni

Highlighting the government’s recent measures to provide legal relief, Asaduzzaman detailed the structured institutional mechanism formed to review and withdraw these cases.

He informed the House that on 5 March 2026, the current government formed four-member committees at the district level to recommend the withdrawal of politically motivated harassment cases.

These committees are tasked with thoroughly reviewing withdrawal applications, FIRs, certified copies of charge sheets (where applicable), and the opinions of public prosecutors, he said.

If a committee finds that a case was initiated solely for political harassment, serves no public interest, and would cause state resources to be wasted if pursued, it forwards a recommendation for withdrawal to the central committee, the minister said.

Asaduzzaman also said that the government subsequently formed a high-powered central committee on 8 March 2026 with the law minister as its convener.

He assured the Jatiya Sangsad that the central committee is continually working to identify and withdraw the remaining harassment cases that are still pending.