Dhaka, May 31 – The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday extended the stay against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s bail until June 24 in two cases of murder and vandalism in Comilla. The apex court also asked the government to file two separate leave to appeal petitions before it against the High Court bail order by June 24.
After hearing two separate petitions moved by the government, a three-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain fixed June 24 for hearing on the leave to appeal petitions.
Later, Advocate Zainul Abedin, one of the counsels for the BNP chief, told reporters that the government wanted to keep the BNP chief in jail for a long time.
“There was no instance in the previous time that the Appellate Division interfered with the High Court’s bail order. But, the apex court stayed the High Court order although it granted bail for the BNP chief in the valid legal ground,” he alleged.
“We want to release the BNP chief through the legal battle. But, the government is trying to keep her in jail with an ill motive to fulfill its political desire,” he noted.
Earlier on May 29, the chamber court of the Appellate Division stayed the High Court (HC) order that granted bail for six months to BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia in two Comilla arson cases and sent the matter to the full bench of the apex court for a hearing.
On May 28, the HC bench—comprising Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice JBM Hassan—granted six months’ bail for Khaleda Zia in the cases filed over vandalism in Chouddagram, Comilla, on January 2015, and the killing of eight and injuring 25–26 others by setting a passenger bus ablaze in Chouddagram on February 2, 2015.
The two cases were filed in Comilla on charges of vandalizing vehicles in 2015. Eight people were killed and at least 20 injured when assailants hurled a petrol bomb at a bus in Jagmohanpur area of Chouddagram under Comilla district during the BNP-led alliance’s protests on February 3, 2015. Two cases—one under the Explosive Substances Act and another for murder—were filed against Khaleda in connection with the incident.
Meanwhile, another bench of the HC—comprising Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Sahidul Karim— yesterday denied bail to Khaleda Zia in two other cases filed on charge of observing “fake” birthday and “demeaning” the national flag.
However, the HC bench ordered the metropolitan magistrate court concerned in Dhaka to dispose of the bail petition filed by Khaleda in the cases as early as possible.
The HC bench came up with the order after hearing on two bail petitions filed by Khaleda seeking bail in the two cases lodged in Dhaka in 2016.
Among the two cases, one was a defamation suit filed by Bangladesh Jananetri Parishad president AB Siddik on November 3, 2016, against Khaleda for distorting the history of the Liberation War and demeaning the national flag and map. Later, an arrest warrant was issued on November 12, 2017.
The other case was filed by journalist Gazi Jahirul Islam on August 30, 2016, accusing Khaleda of observing her birthday on August 15 on the basis of false information. Later, on November 17, 2016, an arrest warrant was issued against her.
On May 16, the Appellate Division of the SC upheld the HC order that had granted bail to Khaleda in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.
However, the BNP chief was not freed from jail, as she was shown arrested in some other cases filed with different police stations in Comilla, Dhaka, Narail, and Panchagarh, including the three in which she has already sought bail. The BNP chairperson is currently facing a total of 36 cases. – Staff Reporter
