Supreme Court extends stay on Khaleda's bail

The Supreme Court will resume hearing BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s bail in two cases over violence in Cumilla on Jun 24, dimming the prospects of her release from jail before the Eid-ul-Fitr.

A three-member appellate bench, led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, upheld a stay order as it restarted the hearing on Thursday.

The court’s last workday was Thursday before the Eid holidays. It will reopen on Jun 24.

BNP leaders hoped that Khaleda would be released before the Eid after getting bail in the Zia Orphanage Trust case from the top court.  That possibility is waning.

On May 16, the Appellate Division upheld an HC order that granted bail to Khaleda for four months in the corruption case in which she was jailed for five years.

But she was not released due to arrest orders in a number of other cases, including two violence cases in Cumilla.

The BNP lawyers appealed to the SC for getting her bail from those cases. 

On May 28, the High Court granted interim bail in two violence cases that involve the firebombing of a bus in Cumilla and the anti-terror case over illegal explosives, raising BNP’s hope to get their leader released from the jail.

Hours after the HC granted bail to the BNP chief, the state filed two petitions with the SC seeking a stay on the HC bail orders in violence cases.

Source: bdnews24