How could a fugitive ex-speaker provide biometric data for a passport?

Wed, Nov 6, 2024 11:52 PM Last Updated: Thu, Nov 7, 2024 12:23 AM

Shirin Sharmin Chaudhuri. Photo file

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Shirin Sharmin Chaudhuri. Photo file

She is wanted in a murder case and is being sought by the police.

However, former Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Shireen Sharmeen Chaudhuri has applied for a new general e-passport from her hideout.

She also provided her biometric data to the shelter’s passport officers.

The question arises, if the passport office staff found Shirin Sharmin, then why didn’t the police do it?

Against this backdrop, Mr. Mazid Ali, Commissioner of Metropolitan Police, Rangpur, told The Daily Star today, “She is absconding and accused of murder and we are carrying out action to arrest her.”

When asked whether the police would interrogate the passport officers who took Sharmin’s fingerprints, Mazid, without giving a direct answer, replied: “The matter is being investigated.”

The former Awami League MP from Rangpur-6 is an accused in a murder case filed in connection with the death of gold miner Muslim Uddin in Rangpur, police said.

On 22 August, the government revoked the diplomatic (red) passports of members of the now-defunct parliament, including the former prime minister, as well as her advisors and other officials who held such passports, following the fall of the AL regime in the Mass Uprising of 5 August.

On October 3, the former Speaker along with her husband Syed Ishtiaq Hossain applied for a regular e-passport at the passport office at Agargaon in Dhaka.

On October 10, they were supposed to hand over their biometric data, which they allegedly gave to passport officials from their hideout.

Sources in the passport office claim that in the statement, the former speaker mentioned that she was ill and had “made special arrangements.”

However, where Shireen Sharmeen provided her biometric details remains a mystery as police sources claim that she was not found at her home in Dhanmondi, which she had given as her current address in her passport application.

The rules for issuing an e-passport state that even if everything can be done at home, the applicant must go to the relevant passport office for biometrics on the appointed day. Only sick and disabled people can take advantage of this opportunity from home or hospital through a mobile team of the special passport office service.

When asked whether an investigation was being carried out against the passport office officials responsible for fingerprinting Sharmeen from her hideout, Firoz Sarker, additional secretary (Security and Immigration) of the Home Ministry’s security services department, refused to comment, saying: “I I am not authorized to comment on this matter.”

The ministry’s information specialist can answer this question, he said.

Faisal Hassan, senior information technology officer at the ministry, said he did not have any information on the matter and suggested contacting the Department of Immigration and Passports (DIP).

The Daily Star contacted Major General Nurul Anwar, director general of DIP, but did not receive a call.

However, in a press release today, the DIP said, “Shireen Sharmeen Chaudhuri does not currently have a valid passport. The diplomatic passport issued to her has already been revoked, like all other diplomatic passports.”

“About a month and a half ago, she applied for a diplomatic passport and applied for a general passport. Applying for a new passport is a lengthy process. A passport is issued to a person only after verification and analysis at various stages,” the statement said. DIP notification.

The notice further added: “The application for a new general passport in exchange for the diplomatic passport of Shirin Sharmeen Chaudhuri is still in the initial stages. She hasn’t received a new passport yet.”

This newspaper also tried to contact Shirin Sharmin, but no one answered the calls.