Law Minister Md. Asaduzzaman spoke today in the Jatiya Sangsad session. Photo: Video Screenshot

SANGSAD BHABAN, April 1, 2026 (BSS) - Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Md. Asaduzzaman today informed the parliament that a total of 142,983 false and harassment cases were filed against BNP leaders and activists from 2007 to January 11, 2025.

He revealed the information while responding to a starred question from treasury bench lawmaker Md. Abdul Mannan (Brahmanbaria-5) in the house today.

The minister said the government does not officially maintain statistics on harassment or false cases filed against leaders and activists of any political party, and therefore it has no specific official data on the number of cases filed only against BNP leaders and activists.

However, he said, according to data provided by BNP’s central office, some 142,983 cases were filed against BNP leaders and activists during the above mentioned period.

The law minister said the present government has taken steps to withdraw politically motivated harassment cases after assuming office.

He informed the House that on March 5, 2026, a four-member district-level committee headed by the District Magistrate was reconstituted to recommend withdrawal of such cases after examining applications, FIRs, charge sheets and opinions of public prosecutors.

Based on recommendations from district committees, a six-member central committee, formed on March 8, 2026, with the law minister as convener, takes final decisions towards undertaking case withdrawal operations, he added.

The minister informed that so far some 23,865 politically motivated harassment cases have already been withdrawn, while the process of withdrawing the remaining cases is continuing.