Abbas' bail petitions forwarded to chief justice

A High Court bench today sent the bail petitions filed by Mirza Abbas in connection with two criminal cases along with its split orders on them (petitions) to Chief Justice SK Sinha for a decision.

The bench of Justice Quamrul Islam Siddique and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore forwarded the petitions and split orders to the chief justice's office around 4:30pm, Kabir Ahmed, a secretary to the chief justice, told The Daily Star.

Chief Justice SK Sinha was yet to assign any new bench for final hearing and disposal of the petitions, since he was not in the Supreme Court office this afternoon, Kabir added.

Kabir was also unable to make any comment on when the chief justice will refer the petitions to an HC bench for their final hearing and disposal.

On April 15, Justice Quamrul Islam Siddique granted three weeks’ anticipatory bail to Abbas in two vandalism and arson cases, but Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore rejected the bail petitions and ordered the accused BNP leader to surrender before the lower court concerned immediately.

Abbas had been accused in two of the cases -- one with Paltan Police Station on December 29 last year and another with Motijheel Police Station on January 4 on charges of vandalising and setting fire to vehicles.

Another HC bench of Justice Md Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice JBM Hassan on April 21 fixed April 27 for hearing his bail petition in a corruption case.

Abbas, BNP’s Dhaka city convener, currently stands accused in at least 60 cases. He is also facing an arrest warrant issued in connection with the corruption case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission.