Fakhrul's hearing deferred till 9 Jan; will remain in jail till after election

The High Court (HC) has fixed 9 January for the bail hearing of BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in the case over the attack on the chief justice's residence on 28 October.

Though the court had previously fixed 3 January for hearing the bail petition, the High Court bench of Justice Md Salim and Justice Shahed Nuruddin deferred it following an appeal from Fakhrul's lawyers.

Advocate Waliur Rahman applied to the court for a week's time citing the busy schedule of senior lawyers.

Responding to the appeal, the HC bench asked, "The bail hearing was so urgent earlier. [So] Why are you appealing to delay the hearing?"

BNP's lawyers did not attend the bail hearing as the party's court-boycott programme went on from 1 to 7 January.

This is the fourth time Mirza Fakhrul has been denied bail in this case.

On 7 December, the High Court denied bail to Mirza Fakhrul in the case over the attack on the Chief Justice's residence during 28 October political violence. It also issued a ruling seeking to know why Mirza Fakhrul would not be granted bail.

Prior to that, on 22 November, the lower court denied his bail.

On 29 October morning, police detained Mirza Fakhrul from his Gulshan residence after deadly clashes rocked parts of Dhaka the previous day. Around 10 hours later, police filed at least two cases against him.

Other cases

Meanwhile on 13 December, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir's lawyer applied for bail in nine cases in which he was not shown arrested though his name was included in the case statement.

However, when the applications were presented to the court for hearing, the judicial court said it has no jurisdiction to hear the bail application until the investigation officer shows him under arrest. The court advised taking the matter to the High Court in this regard.

Then on 17 December, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir filed a writ in the High Court challenging the validity of non-acceptance of bail application in the nine cases.

Later on 18 December, the High Court (HC) ordered the judicial court to hear the bail petitions in nine cases against BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir for which he has not been shown arrested yet.

At the same time, the court issued a ruling asking why non-acceptance of the bail pleas should not be declared illegal.