Aftab Uddin Biplob, son of Awami League leader and controversial local Mayor Abu Taher, who is currently serving a life sentence, was married with much fanfare inside the prison on Friday.
“I have spoken to the deputy commissioner and the IG (Inspector General) of Prisons,” Asaduzzman Khan Kamal told reporters at the Secretariat on Sunday.
“They told me Taher’s son’s marriage did not transgress regulations in any manner.”
Biplob, wearing a Panjabi instead of a prison uniform, met with his bride Sanjida Akhter Piu at jail gate around midnight after being married to her over the phone in the evening.
Piu is a family member of local Jamaat-e-Islami leader and former MP Shafiqul Islam.
Earlier, the groom’s father Taher, local unit general secretary of the ruling party, entered the prison with his cronies and the Qazi.
Taher's supporters drove in on motorcycles and took position in front of the prison.
Deputy Commissioner AKM Tipu Sultan authorised the first wedding ever to be held inside the prison, said Jailer Jainal Abedin.
The 38-year old, found guilty of murdering BNP leader Nurul Islam in 2003, was condemned to death before being awarded clemency by late president Zillur Rahman in 2011.
His young wife is a second-year honours student at the Lakshmipur Government College.
A prison source said Biplob, convicted in two other murders, was treated to a ‘Holud’, a traditional pre-marriage ceremony that involves personal grooming, inside the jail before his marriage.
“I don’t know if the Holud was arranged by the inmates or people from outside. What I’ve found out is that everything was done in keeping with the law.”
The minister moved on to answering queries about the proposed BNP movement after Eid.
“We won’t stop them if their movement is peaceful and orderly. If the movement is political, we will reply politically.”
“BNP will hold their political campaign. That can happen in a democratic country.”
“But no violence will be tolerated. None should be abused either.”