SC stays Khaleda’s bail in 2 cases

The Supreme Court today stayed the High Court orders that granted bail to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in two criminal cases filed in Comilla.

Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division of the SC Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the stay order following two separate petitions filed by the government seeking stay on the HC orders of bail. 

The apex court chamber judge also sent the government’s stay petitions to its full bench for their hearing on Thursday.

One of the cases in which she secured bail by the HC on Monday was filed in connection with vandalising vehicles in Comilla's Chouddagram on January 25, 2015. The other was filed over killing eight people and injuring 25-26 others by setting fire on a bus in Chouddagram on February 2, 2015.

During hearing today, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told the SC chamber judge that Khaleda Zia cannot get bail in the cases as the incidents of setting fires on the vehicles and their vandalism took place at her instruction and instigation.

Khaleda Zia’s lawyer Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain opposed the government’s stay petitions, saying that there is no specific allegation against Khaleda Zia and her name was not mentioned in the first information reports (FIRs) of the cases.

Besides, most of the accused of the cases have already got bail by the HC, so Khaleda Zia is liable to get bail in the cases, he argued.

Advocate Khandker Mahbub told The Daily Star that Khaleda Zia cannot get released from jail even if the apex court upholds her bail in the two cases of Comilla on Thursday, as she is arrested in some other cases.   

Meanwhile today, the HC fixed Thursday for passing orders on two petitions filed by the BNP chief seeking bail in other two cases lodged in Dhaka in 2016 on charges of observing “fake” birthday and “demeaning” Bangladesh's national flag. 

The bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim fixed the date after holding hearing on the petitions.

During the hearing, Khaleda’s lawyer Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain prayed for her bail saying she is ill and 74 years old; and the cases were filed under bailable sections.

Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin opposed the bail petitions saying that Khaleda Zia cannot get bail from the HC as she did not seek the bail from the trial courts concerned.

DAG Amin Uddin told The Daily Star that the HC will pass orders on the bail petitions after hearing arguments from the attorney general on Thursday.

One of the two cases was filed by Gazi Zahirul Islam, former joint general secretary of Dhaka Union of Journalists, on August 30, 2016, with a Dhaka court against Khaleda for allegedly celebrating her “fake” birthday on August 15 every year.

Another case was filed by AB Siddique, president of Bangladesh Jananetri Parishad, a pro-Awami League organisation, with a Dhaka court on November 3 that year, accusing Khaleda and her late husband and former president Ziaur Rahman of “undermining” the country's map and the national flag.

On May 16, the apex court upheld an HC order that granted bail to Khaleda for four months in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case in which she was sentenced to five years' imprisonment.

But she could not walk out of prison following the SC judgment as she was shown arrested in seven other cases.