Bangladesh
Bangladesh Anticipatory bail should not be granted for indefinite period : Appellate Division
Dhaka, 24 March 2024 : The Appellate Division has commented that no person or group of persons should be allowed to stay on anticipatory bail for an indefinite period.
The Appellate Division gave such an opinion in an order on the question of bail of two BNP leaders in the Ramna police station sabotage case.
The order of the three-judge appellate bench led by Chief Justice Obaidul Hasan on March 6 was published on the Supreme Court website on Saturday.
Referring to several earlier judgments of the Appellate Division, the order said, in accordance with the principles of these judgments, the person/persons should not be granted anticipatory bail for indefinite period. The High Court Division failed to consider the principles of the Appellate Division judgment granting anticipatory bail to the accused till the police report.
Because sometimes the investigating agency may take more time to report a case for the sake of proper investigation. In these circumstances, the accused is not entitled to enjoy the benefit of anticipatory bail until the police report is filed.
State vs. Md. Kabir Biswas', 'State vs Professor Dr. The judgment in the case of Morshed Hasan Khan and others, 'Rashtra v. Abdul Wahad Shah Chowdhury' was cited in this order. BNP called a rally on October 28 last year with a one-point demand for the fall of the government. Dhaka Metropolitan Police allowed them to gather under 20 conditions. BNP leaders and activists clashed with the police before the official start of the rally that day. At one stage of the conflict, the Chief Justice's residence was attacked. A policeman who was injured in the clash also died that day. The police filed 39 cases in different police stations of the capital, including Ramna, Paltan.
Among these cases, BNP Vice Chairman and Supreme Court Senior Advocate Zainul Abedin and Joint Secretary General AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon got anticipatory bail from the High Court on November 8 last year in a case in Ramna police station.
The High Court Division granted them bail pending the filing of a police report. The state applied for leave to appeal against this order of the High Court. Attorney General M Amin Uddin was in favor of the application in the court. Advocate Sagir Hossain Lyon appeared for the bail applicant.
