The Appellate Division on Sunday upheld a High Court order directing authorities not to arrest or harass former chief justice ABM Khairul Haque without a specific case against him.
A four-member Appellate Division bench led by the Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury passed the order while disposing of a state petition challenging the High Court order.
Lawyers said the HC order remains applicable to Khairul Haque, meaning he cannot be arrested or harassed without being shown arrested in a specific case.
Senior lawyers Kamrul Haque Siddiqui, Sara Hossain, Mostafizur Rahman Khan, Mahbub Shafique and Monayem Nabi Shahin argued for the petitioner. Deputy Attorney General Mohammad Mehedi Hasan Chowdhury represented the state.
On May 17, a High Court bench comprising Justice Razik-Al-Jalil and Justice Debashish Roy Chowdhury issued the order along with a rule.
Earlier, on May 12, Khairul Haque secured bail from the High Court in two cases filed over killings during the July uprising. His lawyers had said there was no legal impediment to his release as he had obtained bail in all the cases against him. The state later appealed against the order.
On April 28, the Appellate Division upheld his bail in five cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), as well as cases over the killing of a Jubo Dal activist during the July uprising and alleged forgery of a caretaker government verdict.
Earlier, on March 8, the High Court granted him bail in four cases after making the relevant rules absolute. He was also granted bail in an ACC case on March 11. The Appellate Division later dismissed the state’s plea seeking to stay the bail orders.
Khairul Haque was subsequently shown arrested in the Arif murder case filed with Jatrabari Police Station and the Rubel murder case filed with Adabor Police Station. After lower courts rejected his bail pleas, he moved the High Court and secured bail in both cases on May 12. He faces seven cases in total.
Khairul Haque was arrested from his Dhanmondi residence in Dhaka on July 24, 2025, and later shown arrested in a case over the killing of Juba Dal activist Abdul Qayyum Ahad during the July movement.
