Khaleda files bail pleas in three cases
STAFF REPORTER
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, who is serving five-year jail in Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case, yesterday filed three petitions with the High Court seeking bail in three cases. The High Court bench comprising Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice JBM Hassan is likely to hold hearing on the bail petitions today. Advocate Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, counsel for the BNP chief, filed the bail petitions on behalf of Khaleda Zia after taking
permission from the HC bench in this regard. Among the three cases, two were filed in Cumilla on charge of vandalising vehicles in 2015. Eight people were killed and at least 20 injured when assailants hurled a petrol bomb at a bus in Jogmohanpur area of Chouddagram under Cumilla district during the BNP-led alliances protests on February 3, 2015.
Two cases one under Explosive Substances Act and another for murder were filed against Khaleda Zia in connection with the incident.
A warrant for arrest of Khaleda was issued after police filed the charge sheet in the two cases. The state later shown her arrested in the two cases. Khaledas lawyers moved the Cumilla District and Sessions Judges court for her bail in the two cases on Apr 23. The court set June 7 as the date for hearing the bail pleas. Khaledas lawyers then requested the date be brought forward, but the proposal was rejected.
Khaledas lawyer then challenged the decision at the High Court and filed for her bail there. The third case was filed by Raihan Faruki Imam with a Narail court on September 24, 2015, for making a statement about the number of freedom fighters and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Khaleda made the comments on December 21, 2015, at a meeting at the Institution of Engineers Bangladesh (IEB) in Dhaka where she said that Sheikh Mujib did not want independence of the country rather he wanted to be the prime minister of Pakistan.
Khaleda also said that there is a controversy over the number of freedom fighters. A local court later issued an arrest warrant and later Khaleda was shown arrested in the case. Earlier on May 16, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court upheld the High Court order that had granted bail to Khaleda in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.
However, the BNP chief was not freed from jail, as she was shown arrested in some other cases filed with different police stations in Cumilla, Dhaka, Narail, and Panchagarh including the three. The BNP chairperson is now facing a total of 36 cases.
