The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has upheld a High Court order granting six-month bail to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, in an arson case, filed under the Special Powers Act, in Comilla.
A four-member Appellate Division bench, led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, passed the order on Sunday—rejecting the petition filed by the state seeking a stay on the High Court order, reports UNB.
The High Court granted the former prime minister, Khaleda, six-month bail, on August 6, in the arson case. The following day, the state filed a petition seeking a stay on the bail order.
On July 23, the High Court directed Comilla Special Judge Court 1 to dispose of the bail petition filed by the BNP chief in the case by July 26.
Khaleda's lawyer filed a bail petition with the High Court after the Comilla court rejected the bail petition on July 25.
Eight people were killed, and 20 others injured, when miscreants hurled a Molotov cocktail at a passenger bus at Jogmohanpur in Comilla’s Chouddagram during the BNP-led alliance's movement on February 3, 2015.
Two cases were filed against Khaleda.
The BNP chief has been in jail since February 8, after a special court found her guilty of corruption in the Zia Orphanage Trust case.
