Khaleda seeks HC bail in three cases

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday filed three separate petitions with the High Court seeking bail in three different cases.

The HC may hold a hearing on the petitions today, Advocate M Masud Rana, one of Khaleda's lawyers, told The Daily Star.

Among the three cases against Khaleda, two were filed in Comilla. One was filed on the charge of vandalising vehicles on January 25 in 2015, and the other on the charge of killing seven persons and injuring 25-26 persons by setting fire on a passenger bus at an area of Chauddagram on February 2 of the same year.

The third case was filed by Raihan Faruki Imam with a Narail court on September 24, 2015, against Khaleda Zia for making a statement about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the number of freedom fighters.

Khaleda made the comment on December 21, 2015, at a meeting at the Institution of Engineers Bangladesh (IEB) in Dhaka where she said that Sheikh Mujib did not want the independence of the country but instead wanted to be the prime minister of Pakistan.

Khaleda Zia also said that there is a controversy over the number of freedom fighters.

Advocate Masud filed the petitions after the HC, earlier in the day, permitted the BNP chief to move the three bail petitions before it.

Earlier on May 16, the SC 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.

She, however, could not get release from jail following the SC judgement as she was shown arrested in seven other cases, including the three aforementioned ones.