SC upholds Khaleda bail in Cumilla arson case

The Supreme Court on Sunday upheld a High Court order that granted six months bail to Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia in an arson attack case filed under the Special Powers Act in Cumilla.

A four-member Appellate Division bench, led by chief justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, passed the order rejecting the petition filed by the state seeking stay on the HC order, reports UNB.

On Thursday, the court fixed Sunday for delivering its order on the petition.

On 6 August, the High Court granted 6-month bail to the BNP chairperson following a bail petition in the arson case.

Later on the following day, the government filed a petition seeking a stay on the HC order.

On 23 July, the HC directed the Cumilla Special Judge Court-1 to dispose of the bail petition filed by BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia in the case within 26 July.

Khaleda’s lawyer filed a bail petition with High Court as the Cumilla court rejected the bail petition of Khaleda on 25 July.

Eight people were killed and 20 others injured when miscreants hurled a petrol bomb at a bus in Jogmohanpur of Chauddagram of Cumilla district during the BNP-led alliance’s movement on 3 February 2015.

Two cases were filed against Khaleda Zia in this connection.

On 8 February, Khaleda Zia was sent to jail after a special court sentenced her to five years’ rigorous imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

Since then she has been kept at an abandoned jail in the old part of Dhaka.