Staff Reporter :
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a December 18 High Court order that directed the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka to accept, hear and dispose the bail petitions of BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in connection with nine cases.
Justice M Enayetur Rahim, Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division of the SC, passed the order following a petition filed by the state challenging the HC order.
The Chamber Judge also sent the petition to its full bench and fixed January 15 to hear the matter.
The nine cases were filed with Paltan and Ramna police stations over violence centring BNP’s rally in the capital on October 28.
Mirza Fakhrul was made accused in the nine cases, however, he was not shown arrested yet in the cases. As a result, the CMM court refused to entertain the bail petitions in connection with the cases.
The Metropolitan Magistrate Court concerned made the refusal on December 12 and 13 after the lawyers placed those before the courts for hearing.
Fakhrul’s wife Rahat Ara Begum filed a writ petition with the HC on December 14 through lawyers, saying that a Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Dhaka has violated the fundamental rights of her husband by refusing to accept his bail petitions for hearing on different dates.
Following the writ petition, a High Court bench on December 18 directed the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Courts in Dhaka to accept, hear and dispose the bail petitions of BNP Secretary General in the cases.
It also issued a rule, asking the state to explain as to why the CMM Courts’ refusal to accept and hear the bail petitions of Fakhrul should not be declared illegal.
Later, the state filed a petition with the Appellate Division against the High Court order. Upon hearing the state petition, the Chamber Judge upheld the HC order.
The cases were filed on charges of killing a police constable, illegal gathering on the street, vandalising vehicles, rioting, snatching a police weapon, damaging properties, assaulting policemen and preventing them from discharging their duties.
On October 29, Fakhrul was arrested in connection with the case filed with Ramna Police Station over the attack on the residence of the Chief Justice during a clash with police on October 28.
Lawyers Zainul Abedin and A M Mahbub Uddin Khokan appeared in the court hearing on behalf of Mirza Fakhrul, while Attorney General A M Amin Uddin represented the state.
