HC orders bail settlement for Khaleda in Cumilla arson case

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s petition seeking bail in a case for murder and sabotage must be resolved by Feb 4, said the High Court.

Justice Md Rezaul Haque and Justice Zafar Ahmed issued the order on Wednesday.

Khaleda’s lawyers had sought bail from the High Court after a Cumilla court, where the case was on trial, postponed hearings for the BNP chief’s charge-framing and bail petition hearings.    

Lawyer AJ Mohammad Ali attended the court hearing in favour of the bail application. He was accompanied by Barrister Kaiser Kamal. Deputy Attorney General Khurshidul Alam represented the state.

“The sessions court has been ordered to resolve the bail petition by Feb 4. The next hearing on the case is scheduled for that day. The hearing of the BNP chairperson's bail application has been deferred four times,” Kaiser Kamal told bdnews24.com.

The charge-framing and bail hearing in the case was slated for Jan 16.

But Cumilla Additional District and Sessions Court Judge Md Ali Akbar deferred the hearing on an application for adjournment by the state.

On Feb 3, 2015, eight people were killed and 27 injured when petrol bombs were hurled at an Icon Paribahan bus in Chauddagram during a strike called by the BNP-Jamaat alliance.

SI Nuruzzaman Hawladar filed two cases with the Chauddagram Police Station over the incident, one for murder and another under the Explosives Act.

Chauddagram Police Station SI Md Ibrahim filed a charge-sheet with the court after investigating the cases for over two years.

The cases charge Khaleda with ordering the attack. She has been shown arrested in both cases.

Khaleda has been in prison since February last year. She has been sentenced to 17 years in prison in the Zia Orphanage and Zia Charitable Trust corruption cases. There are more than three dozen cases filed against her.