High Court grants 6-month bail to Fakhrul, Abbas

The High Court (HC) has granted six-month bail to BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas, in a case over the clash between police and the party activists in Dhaka's Nayapaltan on 7 December last year. 

The court also issued a ruling asking why the top BNP leaders should not be granted permanent bail. The government has been asked to respond to the ruling within the next four weeks.

The HC bench of Justice Md Salim and Justice Md Riaz Uddin Khan passed the order on Tuesday after hearing a petition filed in this regard.

Senior Advocate Joynul Abedin stood for the bail plea while Additional Attorney General SM Munir represented the state during today's hearing.

Earlier, the two BNP leaders were denied bail four times by the lower courts concerned in the same case.

Lawyer Sagir Hossain Leone had filed separate bail petitions on the behalf of Fakhrul and Abbas on Monday (2 January), BNP's Legal Secretary Barrister Kaiser Kamal told the media.

According to lawyers and family sources, a total of 92 cases have been filed against Mirza Fakhrul in the last 10 years. Of these, 20 to 25 are now active, said lawyers handling his cases. The BNP secretary general has served 350 days in jail since 2012.

Earlier, a team from the Detective Branch of police picked up Mirza Fakhrul and Mirza Abbas from their residences in the capital. Later in the day, a Dhaka court sent them to jail rejecting their bail petitions.

Following a special bail plea shortly after, a Dhaka court rejected bail for 224 BNP activists and leaders including Fakhrul and Abbas.

After an unconventional delay, the two BNP veterans were provided with division facilities after a writ was lodged on behalf of Mirza Fakhrul's wife Rahat Ara Begum and Mirza Abbas' wife Afroza Abbas.

On 21 December last, Dhaka Metropolitan Session Judge Asaduzzaman rejected the BNP leaders' bail petitions again.