Khaleda gets HC bail in two Comilla cases

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday secured High Court bail in two criminal cases filed in Comilla, but was denied bail in a defamation case lodged in Narail.

Hours after the HC granted bail to the BNP chief, the government filed two petitions with the Supreme Court seeking stay on the HC bail orders. 

Chamber judge of the SC's Appellate Division may hold a hearing on the government's petitions today, Deputy Attorney General Ekramul Haque Tutul told The Daily Star.

Khaleda, who has been in jail since February 8 this year, cannot be out of jail despite the HC bail orders. She has to stay in prison even if the SC upholds her bail today as she is arrested in other cases, M Masud Rana, a lawyer for Khaleda, told this correspondent.

Meanwhile, another HC bench yesterday fixed 2:00pm today for hearing two bail petitions of Khaleda in two other cases lodged in Dhaka in 2016 on charges of observing “fake” birthday and “demeaning” Bangladesh's national flag.    

Earlier in the day, the HC bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice JBM Hassan granted six months' bail to Khaleda in two cases filed in Comilla.

The bench also issued two separate rules asking the government to explain why she should not be granted permanent bail in the cases.

The HC judges came up with the orders and rules following two petitions filed by Khaleda seeking bail in the cases.

One of the cases in which she secured bail 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.

Khaleda was denied HC bail in the defamation case filed with a Narail court on September 24, 2015, over making a statement on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the number of freedom fighters.

On December 21, 2015, Khaleda in a meeting at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, in Dhaka said Sheikh Mujib did not want independence of the country and wanted to be the prime minister of Pakistan instead.

She also said there was a controversy over the number of deaths of freedom fighters.

The HC bench of Justice Asaduzzaman and Justice Hassan rejected Khaleda's bail petition in the case, considering that the petition was not placed before it properly.

The bench also said she could seek bail from the Narail court concerned in the case.

On May 20, the BNP chief filed three petitions through her lawyers with the HC seeking bail in the cases.

In another development, the HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim yesterday fixed 2:00pm today for hearing her two bail petitions in two other cases lodged in Dhaka in 2016 on charges of observing “fake” birthday and “demeaning” Bangladesh's national flag.   

The BNP chief submitted the petitions with the HC on May 22 seeking bail in the cases.

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 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.

Yesterday, Khaleda was granted six months' bail by the HC in two of the seven cases.