Fakhrul free to walk out of jail

The High Court yesterday granted bail to BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in three more vandalism and arson cases, paving the way for him to walk out of jail.

With this, Fakhrul got bail in all the seven cases filed against him since December 2014.

The HC bench of Justice Md Rezaul Haque and Justice Md Khasruzzaman gave him bail in response to three separate petitions filed by the BNP leader.

The bench granted Fakhrul bail considering his illness, and as there was no specific allegation against him of being directly involved in the vandalism and arson incidents, his lawyer Sagir Hossain Leon told The Daily Star.

He said the BNP leader had been accused in 89 cases, with the seven, since 2012, and Fakhrul got bail from the HC and lower courts in all the cases at different times.

Sagir also said his client was detained at the Press Club premises on January 5 and shown arrested in seven vandalism and arson cases later.

The HC yesterday also issued three separate rules upon the government to explain in four weeks why the BNP leader should not be granted regular bail in the three cases filed with Paltan Police Station on January 4 and 6.

The court granted him ad interim bail in the cases till the disposal of the rules.

Fakhrul, who is undergoing treatment at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, secured bail in four other cases on April 19 and June 18.

Deputy Attorney General Fazlur Rahman Khan, who opposed the bail petitions of the BNP leader, told this correspondent that the government would appeal to the Supreme Court's Appellate Division seeking stay on the HC orders that granted Fakhrul bail.