Fakhrul, Abbas granted six-month anticipatory bail

The High Court (HC) on Tuesday granted BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and standing committee member Mirza Abbas six-month anticipatory bail in a case filed over clashes between police and BNP leaders and activists on 7 December in the capital’s Nayapaltan area.  

A HC bench, comprising Justice Md Salim and Justice Md Riaz Uddin Khan, passed the order on Tuesday. Earlier on Monday, Mirza Fakhrul and Mirza Abbas appealed for bail in the case.

In the hearing on Tuesday, lawyer Zainul Abedin represented the petitioners and the additional attorney general SM Munir stood for the state. The lawyers AJ Mohammad Ali, Kaisar Kamal, Md Ruhul Kuddus and Sagir Hossain also stood for the accused.  

Lawyer Kaisar Kamal said the HC granted Mirza Fakhrul and Mirza Abbas six-month anticipatory bail and issued a four-week rule asking why they shouldn't be granted bail.     

In this case, the two senior leaders were denied bail for four consecutive times: three in the chief judicial metropolitan magistrate (CMM) court in Dhaka and one in Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge court.

Their lawyers argued the two senior BNP leaders were not made accused in the cases under which they were shown arrested. Both are ailing and elderly leaders.

Earlier, two BNP leaders, Aman Ullah Aman and Abdur Quader Bhuiyan, were granted bail in these cases. So, Mirza Fakhrul and Mirza Abbas can be granted bail under any consideration.   

The two BNP leaders were detained from their residences on the night of 8 December. The next day they were shown arrested in a case filed for planning and instigating attack on police in Dhaka's Naya Paltan on Wednesday. Later, they were sent to jail.