Comilla Arson Case: Khaleda seeks bail from HC

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday filed a petition with the High Court seeking bail in an arson case filed in Comilla, while a Narail court denied her bail in a defamation case.

Seven people were killed and 25-26 others injured after a bus was torched in Comilla's Chouddagram upazila on February 2, 2015. The following day, police lodged two cases -- one for murder and another under the Special Powers Act -- with Chouddagram Police Station in this connection.

Yesterday, Khaleda, who stands accused in 34 cases, submitted the bail petition to the HC through her lawyer, saying that her name was not in the first information report of the case lodged under the Special Powers Act and there was no specific allegation against her client in the case.

In the petition, she prayed to the HC to grant her bail on the grounds that she was aged and sick, and many other accused in the case already got bail from the court, Masud Rana, who submitted the petition on behalf of Khaleda, told The Daily Star.

The lawyer said the HC bench of Justice Md Shawkat Hossain and Justice Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman might hear the bail petition within a day or two.

Thirty-one, out of the 78 accused, in the case were on bail, while the rest were on the run. Only Khaleda has been shown arrested in the case.      

On May 31, the Supreme Court extended its chamber judge's order that stayed the bail granted by the HC to the BNP chief in other two criminal cases filed in Comilla.

The first one was lodged in connection with vandalising vehicles in Comilla's Chouddagram on January 25, 2015. She was accused in the second one for the killing of eight people and injuring 25-26 others when a bus was torched in the upazila on February 2, 2015.

The same day, the SC asked the government to file two leave to appeal petitions with it by June 24 against the HC bail orders in the two cases.

The apex court also fixed June 24 for hearing the leave to appeal petitions.

The HC on May 31 denied bail to Khaleda in two other cases filed over observing “fake” birthdays and “demeaning” the national flag.

The HC ordered the chief metropolitan magistrate courts concerned in Dhaka to expeditiously hear and dispose of Khaleda's bail petitions in the cases.

On May 16, the SC upheld an HC order that granted four month's bail to Khaleda in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case in which she was sentenced to five years' imprisonment by the trial court. 

But Khaleda, who landed in jail on February 8 in the case, could not be out of jail despite the SC verdict as she was shown arrested in seven other cases filed in Comilla, Dhaka, Khulna and Narail.

In another development, a Narail court denied bail to Khaleda in the case filed over her “derogatory remarks” against freedom fighters, reports UNB.

Judge Sheikh Abdul Ahad of District and Sessions Judge's Court passed the order after hearing her bail petition.

On May 30, Judge Abdul Ahad set yesterday for hearing the petition after it was filed by BNP's International Affairs Secretary advocate Masud Ahmed Talukder.

On December 21, 2015, Khaleda at a discussion at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, raised questions about the actual number of Liberation War martyrs, saying, "There're controversies over how many were martyred in the Liberation War. There're also many books and documents on the controversies.”

Reacting to Khaleda's remarks, one Raihan Farooque Imam of Naragati filed the case on December 24, 2015.