HC grants bail to Dhaka University teacher Hafizur Rahman

After failing to secure bail in the lower court, Hafizur Rahman petitioned for bail at the High Court, said his legal counsel

The High Court has granted bail to Sheikh Hafizur Rahman, a law teacher at Dhaka University, in a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The bench of Justice KM Rasheduzzaman Raja and Justice Rezaul Karim issued the order along with a rule on Monday.

Lawyer Sheikh Ali Ahmed Khokon represented Hafizur, while Deputy Attorney General Sultana Akhter Ruby represented the state.

Advocate Khokon told bdnews24.com, “After failing to secure bail in the lower court, Hafizur Rahman petitioned for bail at the High Court. The court granted him a six-month interim bail after the hearing.”

The lawyer said that although there were 16 people named in the case, including former Awami League minister Abdul Latif Siddique, he only applied for bail for one suspect.

On Aug 28, a case was filed against 16 people, including Latif, Hafizur, and journalist Manjurul Alam Panna, under the Anti-Terrorism Act. Shahbagh Police Station Sub-Inspector Amirul Islam filed the case.

That day, police detained Latif, who was injured in a mob attack, and journalist Panna, along with 16 others including Hafizur, during a discussion on the Liberation War and the Constitution at the Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU).

According to the case dossier, a platform called "Mancha 71" was formed on Aug 5 to “resist conspiracies to erase and distort the history of the Liberation War”.

The platform organised a discussion at DRU on Aug 28, when a group of young men stormed into the venue, shouted slogans, tore banners, and detained the participants.

Police later arrived and arrested 16 people.