Dhaka Times Report. Finally, 5 MPs of the opposition party got bail. The skepticism that had been brewing across the country for the past month has eased to some extent. After the disappearance of BNP leader Ilyas Ali, the movement started with hartal.
It is to be noted that the High Court has granted interim bail for 6 weeks to five members of Parliament of the opposition party in a case filed under the Speedy Trial Act at Tejgaon police station in the capital. The court has issued a ruling to the government asking why the rest of the senior leaders of the 18-party alliance will not be granted bail in this case. The state party has been asked to respond to this rule within a week. The bench of Justice Salma Masud Chowdhury and FRM Nazmul Ahasan gave this order on May 27 in view of the bail application of 36 leaders of the opposition including BNP acting general secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
The 5 parliamentarians who got bail are - BNP Standing Committee Member MK Anwar, Joint Secretary General Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon, Student Affairs Secretary Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annie, LDP Chairman Oli Ahmad and BJP Chairman Andalib Rahman Parth.
Those in whose case the rule has been issued are - BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, member of the standing committee. Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Brigadier (Retd) Hannan Shah, Former Mayor of Dhaka Sadek Hossain Khoka, BNP Joint General Secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Aman Ullah Aman, Kamruzzaman Ratan, Ruhul Quddus Talukdar Dulu, AKM Fazlul Haque Milan. , Nazim Uddin Alam, Shafiul Alam Pradhan, Khairul Kabir Khokon, Kazi Abul Bashar, Md Anwaruzzaman, Nabi Solaiman, Yunus Mridha, Lutfur Rahman, Saiful Islam Nirav, SM Jahangir Hossain Sardar, Rafiqul Islam Manju, Habibunnabi Khan Sohail, Mir Sarafat Ali Shapu , Yasin Ali, Sultan Salauddin Tuku, Amirul Islam Khan Alim, Anisur Rahman Khokon, Habibur Rashid Habib, Ah Matin and Kamal Anwar.
It may be noted that a bus was set on fire in front of the Prime Minister's office during the hartal on April 29 in protest against the disappearance of BNP's organizing secretary M Elias Ali. In that incident, the police filed a case against 44 top leaders of 18 party alliances under the Speedy Trial Act at Tejgaon police station. Then on May 10, a charge sheet was filed against 45 people including Mirza Fakhrul. The court accepted the charge sheet on May 21. Before filing the charge sheet, the leaders appeared in the High Court to break the police barricade and seek anticipatory bail, but at first the High Court gave a mixed order. Then on May 14, the third judge bench ordered to surrender before the judicial court by May 16.
Accordingly, on May 16, they surrendered at the Metropolitan Magistrate's Court and asked for bail, but the court rejected it and sent them to jail. BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi and Kamruzzaman Ratan were arrested in this case earlier and sent to jail. Another Joint Secretary General of BNP, Mahabub Uddin Khokon, was granted bail by the High Court, but the judicial court also sent him to jail at the end of the term.
Later on behalf of these top leaders, a bail application was filed in the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court, but it was rejected. The Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court rejected the bail application of 33 leaders of the alliance on May 23 against the order it gave on May 27. Those leaders appealed to the High Court. When the above bench was raised for hearing in the morning, the court fixed it for hearing in the afternoon.
Barrister Rafiq Ul Haque and Ahsanul Karim participated in the hearing of Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon's application in the afternoon hearing. Ahsanul Karim told the court that the bus caught fire at 9:30 pm. My client is a barrister and Member of Parliament. He went to burn the bus that night. He said, it is a matter of seeing what the evidence of this case was in the charge sheet. The Sessions Judge did not consider the evidence. Because, in the case of Alamat, there is an old bus with most of its parts burnt, besides two pieces of burnt wood on the seat. There are no other signs. According to the complaint, the car was vandalized and burnt. But the charge sheet does not mention any signs of vandalism like sticks or arson.
Ahsanul Karim pointed out that there are deviations in the FIR and the charge sheet and said that in the charge sheet it is said that in order to make the hartal successful, they talked to each other on mobile phones and started vandalism and arson. Mobile phone conversations are recorded. But there is no CD evidence of mobile phone conversation records. The session judge did not take this matter into account. He also said that in the FIR it is said that 6-7 microbuses were vandalized and burnt. But who got down, what was the number of the microbus - there is no specific information about these. He criticized the order given by the session judge and said that even if there is a provision of life sentence, the court will look into the allegations of the accused. See the complaint in the document. But the Sessions Judge Court did not see what was in the charge sheet. The CD based on which you ordered the mobile phone conversation is not available. There is no mention of that CD in the alam.
At that time, the court said, it is not an application to cancel the case. What is the reason for bail? After that, Ahsanul Karim raised the bail argument and said that there is no specific charge against the accused. The charge sheet has been completed in this case. So there is no chance to influence the investigation. Besides, if bail is given, he will not run away. He is a Member of Parliament. Moreover, the parliament session is starting. At that time Barrister Rafiq Ul Haque highlighted East Pakistan Assembly Member Privileged Act-1965 and said that in this law, no member of Parliament is obliged to be present in court in any civil or criminal case seven days before and seven days after the Parliament session. MP is privileged person. Then the court wants to know how many MPs there are. Then barrister Maudud Ahmed and others said, total 5 people.
After that, Additional Attorney General MK Rahman told the court, Section 13 of the Speedy Trial Act states that regardless of what is contained in the criminal procedure code, bail can be granted only if the court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds after hearing the state party and reviewing the relevant documents. But there is no document here. There is also no opportunity to review documents. Moreover, the matter of phone conversation has come up in the investigation. Court cannot grant bail at this stage. I am not going into the merits of the case, but there is no chance of bail. He requested the court to issue a ruling by summoning the records. Besides, the MPs are already in custody. So you can not get the opportunity of the said law in this case.
Then the court said, I am giving interim bail to the MPs. Rule for the rest. Meanwhile, the court initially granted bail to 5 MPs for six months, but later changed it to six weeks. After coming out of the court, the lawyer of the accused, Barrister Maudud Ahmed, and the additional attorney general for the state told reporters that the court granted interim bail to 5 MPs for six months. However, it was later learned that the court initially granted bail for 6 months, but later revised it to 6 weeks.
Referring to others, Barrister Maudud said, "You can't discriminate like this." MP and others are the same thing. Moreover, in the absence of a specific complaint, the matter is bailable. In response, the court said, we are not making any distinction. Issuing a two-week rule. Then, in the face of the objections of the leaders of the 18-party alliance, the court said to issue the rule for a week. Then Maudud Ahmad Ruhul Quddus highlighted the matter of Talukdar and said that he was in Natore on the day of the incident. How was that gentleman included in the FIR? He was not in Dhaka. He was present in Natore court for bail that day. It's in court records. Court records matter. Then he showed the court documents of Natore court. At that time, when the court asked the government's lawyer about the matter, Additional Attorney General MK Rahman said, it is seen in the record. He was in that court. But how it happened, that has to be seen. Then Maudud Ahmad Shafiul Alam said about the chief, he was in Panchagarh on the day of the incident. held a public meeting. He and activists had a fight with the police. Here is the report with his picture in the newspaper.
Advocate Khandkar Mahbub Hossain, Nitai Roy Chowdhury, Mir Mohammad Nasir Uddin, Rafiqul Islam Mia, Badruddoza Badal, Ruhul Quddus Kajal, Sagir Hossain Leon and others were also present on behalf of the leaders in the hearing. Besides, Golam Mohammad Chowdhury Alal, Kaiser Kamal, Nasir Uddin Ahmed Asim were present in the court. Barrister Ragib-Rauf Chowdhury, Ehsanur Rahman, Mirza Al Mahmud, Sheikh Mohammad Ali, Salma Sultana Suma etc.
Decision on Khokar on May 28
Meanwhile, BNP Vice Chairman Sadek Hossain Khokar's lawyer, Supreme Court Bar Association President Zainul Abedin submitted a bail application on his behalf. Presenting the health issue as an additional argument with the other accused, he said that he is seriously ill. Taking this ground into consideration let him be granted bail. He then presented a newspaper report. The court said, newspaper reports will not. If you have a medical certificate, give it. If Zainul gives the medical certificate, the court said that an affidavit should be submitted. Zainul took time to give it on May 28. The court fixed the hearing at 2 pm. Sheikh Shaukat Hussain Nilu, chairman of the 18-party coalition partner Progressive Democratic Party, went to jail with BNP and other partners, but no plea was filed on his behalf.
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