Rabia Bhuiyan (born 1 March 1944) is a Jatiya Party (Ershad) politician and a former Jatiya Sangsad member from women's reserved seat 19. She is the first female barrister in Bangladesh. She is most notable for founding the law school, Bhuiyan Academy, in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

Early life

Bhuiyan was born on 1 March 1944 in

in the then

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

(now in Bangladesh). She was married to barrister AKM Mozammel Hoque Bhuiyan (1939-2008).

Career

Bhuiyan was elected to parliament from a reserved seat as a Jatiya Party (Ershad) candidate in June 1996. She and her husband founded Bhuiyan Academy which provides distance learning for law courses from University of London. Bhuiyan served as the minister of social welfare and women's affairs in the first Hasina cabinet. In 1998, with the then deputy speaker's consent, she became the first female voted speaker for a one-day parliament session. In 1999, Bhuiyan filed a landmark environment case titled ''Rabia Bhuiyan, MP'' v ''Ministry of LGRD'' which acknowledged that the government has a responsibility to ensure access to safe drinking water.

References

1944 births Living people Jatiya Party (Ershad) politicians Women members of the Jatiya Sangsad 7th Jatiya Sangsad members 20th-century Bangladeshi women politicians {{JatiyaParty-politician-stub