698 children secure bail in 45 working days

A total of 698 children accused in criminal cases have secured bail, and 685 of them were handed over to their guardians after they got released from custody on bail in the last 45 working days.

A total of 840 children detained in criminal charges were staying in three juvenile development centres till July 16 as 403 accused were sent to those centres between May 12 and July 16, Supreme Court Spokesmen Md Saifur Rahman said in a statement.

According to the statement, the lower courts across the country have heard and disposed of a total 1,20,904 bail petitions and granted bail to a total of 60,047 people -- including the 698 children -- in the last 45 working days till July 16.

The courts have granted bail to 5,730 people after disposing of a total of 13,867 bail petitions last week (July 12 to July 16) in connection with the cases against them.

The SC statement also said the subordinate courts concerned  have disposed of surrender related petitions of the accused in 5,319 criminal cases and granted bail to 17,590 accused from July 12 to July 16 and sent 1,174 accused to jails.

More than 300 courts have granted bail to the accused after holding virtual hearings of the petitions filed by them, seeking bail in the cases against them. 

The virtual court began operations on May 11 after a gap of 46 days to deal with the urgent cases.                                                                         

The regular activities of courts across the country, including the Appellate and High Court Divisions of the Supreme Court, remained closed since March 26 due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.