Rabia Bhuiyan

Rabia Bhuiyan 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.

Early life

Bhuiyan was born on 1 March 1944 in Dhaka in the then British India. She was married to barrister AKM Mozammel Hoque Bhuiyan.

Career

Bhuiyan was elected to parliament from a reserved seat as a Jatiya Party 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.