The High Court has ordered the burial of BNP leader Abul Harris Chowdhury with state honour as a freedom fighter, following a DNA test that confirmed his identity.

Justice Fahmida Kader and Justice Mobina Asaf’s HC bench issued the order on Wednesday after receiving a report related to a writ petition filed by Chowdhury’s daughter Barrister Samira Tanzin.

The DNA test, conducted after exhuming his body, confirmed that the person buried under the name “Mahmudur Rahman” in the Jamia Khatamun Nabiyyin Madrasa cemetery in Savar, Dhaka, was indeed Harris Chowdhury.

Harris Chowdhury: A mystery resolved through DNA confirmation

Authorities are currently holding his body at the Dhaka Medical College morgue, and they will transfer it to his family graveyard in Kanaighat of Sylhet, for burial.

Samira expressed her relief, highlighting the long-standing questions and doubts surrounding her father’s death. “As a child, it is deeply tragic and painful to have doubts about my father’s death. People still ask if he really died. We are being harassed. That is why we turned to the court to end this,” she said.

The court issued a rule to ensure authorities would issue a death certificate in his name, withdraw the Interpol red notice against him, and arrange for his burial with the proper recognition as a ‘heroic’ freedom fighter.

This case dates back to 2021 when reports revealed that Harris Chowdhury had been buried under the name ‘Mahmudur Rahman’ on September 4 of that year.