Split HC order on Abbas' bail
A High Court bench yesterday passed split orders on two bail petitions filed by BNP-blessed mayor candidate Mirza Abbas in connection with two vandalism and arson cases.
Justice Quamrul Islam Siddique, senior judge of the two-member bench, granted three weeks' anticipatory bail to Abbas considering his run for mayor election to the Dhaka South City Corporation to be held on April 28.
On the other side, junior judge of the bench Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore rejected the bail petitions and ordered the accused BNP leader to surrender before the lower court concerned immediately.
Justice Gobinda rejected the bail petitions since the Appellate Division had scrapped four HC orders that granted anticipatory bail to BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Mirza Abbas in four similar criminal cases, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters.
He said the judges of the bench would now forward the bail petitions along with their dissenting orders to the chief justice.
After receiving the petitions and the split orders, Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha would refer those to another HC bench for disposal, the attorney general added.
He further said Abbas was now a fugitive following the split orders.
Asked if the law enforcers could arrest the BNP-blessed mayor aspirant, the top state law officer said it depended on them [law enforcers].
However, police could arrest Abbas in a corruption case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission since the HC bench on April 13 dropped from its hearing list another bail petition in connection with that case, he added.
AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon, a lawyer for Abbas, has meanwhile told The Daily Star that law enforcers would have no grounds to arrest his client since the senior judge of the HC bench granted him anticipatory bail, while another petition for bail in the ACC case was still pending with the court.
Five lawyers defending Abbas led by Khandker Mahbub Hossain met the chief justice at his office and urged him to take steps so that the bench of Justice Quamrul and Gobinda heard and disposed of the bail petitions.
They also submitted an application with a prayer, but the CJ did not receive it saying he would look into the matter, Bodruddoza Badal, one of the lawyers, told The Daily Star.
Absent from electioneering ahead of the April 28 polls, Mirza Abbas was present in the HC yesterday. He told reporters after the court proceedings that “false” cases were filed against him to “politically harass him”, but people would give proper reply to those cases through ballots.
Since April 9, two days after the polls campaign officially commenced, Abbas' wife Afroza Abbas has been conducting electioneering on her husband's behalf.
Dhaka police have already issued stern warning against “fugitives” contesting the city polls that they must secure bail in the cases they have been accused in.
On Sunday, Mirza Abbas submitted three petitions to the HC through his lawyers seeking anticipatory bail in connection with three cases.
Abbas had been accused in two of the cases -- one filed with Paltan police on December 29 last year and another filed with Motijheel police on January 4 on charges of vandalising and setting fire to vehicles.
The third case, in which Abbas was not originally an accused, was filed by the ACC with Shahbagh police on March 6 last year against Alamgir Kabir and three others on charge of causing a loss of around Tk 15.52 crore to the state by allocating land to journalists at a lower rate.
Abbas has sought bail in the case as police had pressed charges against him along with other accused and he might be arrested.
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