SC upholds bail for ex-chief justice Khairul Haque in five cases

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court today upheld High Court verdicts granting bail to former chief justice ABM Khairul Haque in five cases.

A five-member bench led by Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury dismissed five separate state petitions seeking to stay the HC bail orders issued on March 8 and 11.

Despite the ruling, Khairul will not be released from jail as he remains arrested in two other cases, his lawyer Advocate Md Motaher Hossain Sazu told The Daily Star.

Senior lawyers Md Qumrul Huque Siddique and Motaher Hossain Sazu appeared for Khairul, while Additional Attorney General Md Abdul Jabbar Bhuiyan represented the state during the hearings.

On March 11, the High Court granted him permanent bail in a corruption case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

The case, lodged in August last year, accuses Khairul and seven officials of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha of acquiring a 10-katha plot through false information and abuse of power.

Earlier, on March 8, the High Court granted Khairul bail in four other cases.

One of the cases was filed with Jatrabari Police Station over the killing of Jubo Dal activist Abdul Kaiyum Ahad during the July movement. Another was lodged with Shahbagh Police Station by Supreme Court lawyer Mujahidul Islam Shaheen, alleging forgery related to the caretaker government verdict.

Two similar cases were filed in Narayanganj with Fatullah Police Station and Bandar Police Station on August 25 last year.

Khairul served as chief justice from September 30, 2010, to May 17, 2011. During his tenure, the Appellate Division delivered a landmark verdict on May 10, 2011, annulling the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which had introduced the caretaker government system in 1996.

Police arrested him from his Dhanmondi residence on July 24 last year, nearly a year after the July mass uprising and the fall of the Awami League government.