DHAKA, Aug 11, 2018 (BSS) – Barrister Rabia Bhuiyan, the first female barrister of the country, returned home from the United Kingdom in 1973 at the behest of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
“Bangabandhu went to London in 1973. I went to meet him along with some others in Claridge’s Hotel. We entered his room and introduced ourselves. When he learned that I obtained Bar-at-Law degree, he was so happy. He said please come back home, we would do everything (for you),” Rabia, also the first women lawyer of country’s Appellate Division, told BSS.
“Bangabandhu asked me to play my role in Bangladesh’s judiciary, saying Bangladesh has got its constitution and the Supreme Court too has been established. After that, I returned home without wasting any time,” she said.
Rabia who was studying at Lincoln’s Inn in 1971, worked for raising global awareness for Bangladesh’s War of Liberation.
“I was the president of a student committee formed at Lincoln’s Inn in support of the War of Liberation. We had foiled a pro-Pakistan conference organized in London at that time,” she added.
Recalling her reminiscence of Father of the Nation, Barrister Rabia said she never saw any other leader or person with so much hypnotic power.
“His only aim was to take forward the newly liberated Bangladesh and doing welfare of its people,” she said.
Rabia recently received Doctor of Law honor from University of London. She is the first Bangladeshi and second Asian women to receive this honor. Rabia is the founder Bhuiyan Academy.