Staff Correspondent

Former education minister Dipu Moni, who is currently in prison, has been granted 12 hours of parole following the death of her husband, Supreme Court lawyer Tawfique Nawaz.

She will be released on parole from 6am to 6pm on Thursday, Munshiganj Additional District Magistrate Rezaul Karim said.

Lawyer Gazi Foysal Islam said the parole application was submitted to the deputy commissioner after consulting Dipu Moni on Wednesday afternoon.

The Awami League leader will first go to her home in Kalabagan after leaving prison, according to Foysal.She will then attend her husband’s funeral prayers at Gulshan Azad Mosque after Zuhr prayers, before the burial at Banani Graveyard.

Dipu Moni will have to return to prison by 6pm after the burial, he added.

The decision comes after Dipu Moni’s daughter, Tani Deepavali Nawaz, visited her at Munshiganj jail to discuss the timing and duration of a parole application.

Jail Superintendent Md Jannat-ul Farhad had confirmed the meeting, while Faisal said preparations were under way at the time to submit the request to the district administration.

Tawfique, 76, died at Continental Hospital in Dhaka on Tuesday night after long-term complications from kidney and liver disease.

A Supreme Court lawyer by profession, he also practised classical music and had suffered a stroke in 2019.

He was last seen in public on May 27, when relatives brought him to court in a wheelchair to see his incarcerated wife.

Dipu Moni has been in custody since her arrest in multiple cases following the July 2024 Uprising that toppled the Awami League government.

Although she has secured bail in several cases at the High Court, she remains detained because of other pending charges in Dhaka and Munshiganj.

Her daughter had previously sought seven days of parole for Dipu Moni in May, citing Tawfique’s illness, but the request was not granted.