Fakhrul, Abbas get six-month bail

The High Court today granted six-month bail to BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and standing committee member Mirza Abbas in a case filed over the December 7 clashes between police and BNP men in the capital's Nayapaltan area.

The HC bench of Justice Md Salim and Justice Md Riaz Uddin Khan granted the bail after hearing a petition filed by Fakhrul and Abbas seeking bail in the case.

Their lawyers submitted a petition to the HC in this regard yesterday.

In the petition, the lawyers said the lower courts concerned have not granted bail to Fakhrul and Abbas though their names were not mentioned in the first information report (FIR) of the case.

But other FIR named accused have been granted bail, they added.

Fakhrul and Abbas have earlier been denied bail four times by the lower courts concerned in the same case.

The case was filed with Paltan Model Police Station on December 8, a day after the clash broke out in front of the BNP's Nayapaltan office. The clash left one person dead and many injured.

Fakhrul and Abbas were picked up from their homes around 3:00am on December 9, a day before their Dhaka divisional mass rally, and were sent to jail after Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Jashim rejected their bail petitions.

The two were shown arrested on charges of provoking party activists to attack police.

Senior lawyer Zainul Abedin appeared for the accused BNP leaders while Additional Attorney General SM Munir opposed the bail petition during the hearing.