Police in the Bangladeshi capital have arrested Bidisha Ershad, former wife of the late President and Jatiya Party founder Hussain Muhammad Ershad. Officers executed a judicial arrest warrant during a targeted operation in Dhaka’s upscale Gulshan district on Tuesday evening, taking her into custody at around 8:30 pm.
Dawood Hossain, Officer-in-Charge of Gulshan Police Station, confirmed the operation, stating that law enforcement acted strictly under direct court orders. The warrant arises from a conviction in a fraud case where Bidisha received a two-year prison sentence alongside a fine of 10,000 Bangladeshi Taka. Her subsequent failure to surrender or comply with the judicial verdict prompted the trial court to issue a formal warrant for her immediate arrest.
Bidisha, a well-known socialite and political commentator, married former military ruler Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 2000. Her union with Ershad—who seized power in a bloodless 1982 coup and governed Bangladesh until his overthrow in 1990—captured intense media spotlight for years. The relationship collapsed into a bitter, highly publicised divorce in 2005. That separation launched an escalating series of legal battles over marital property, political influence, and the custody of their young son, Eric Ershad. At one point, the conflict triggered criminal allegations, including charges of treason, theft, and passport forgery, which further entangled her in the judicial system.
Following her divorce, Bidisha tried to carve out an independent political presence. She repeatedly attempted to mobilize rival factions within the Jatiya Party structure, positioning herself as a guardian of Ershad’s legacy and directly challenging the party’s mainstream leadership. Despite these ambitions, her public career remained persistently shadowed by personal financial disputes, private lawsuits, and outstanding litigation spanning nearly two decades.
Tuesday’s arrest marks a major turn in her long-running legal struggles. Gulshan police confirmed that Bidisha was brought directly to the station for preliminary processing. Officers are preparing to present her before the relevant metropolitan magistrate court, where formal proceedings will commence to transfer her into judicial custody to begin serving her court-ordered sentence.
