The High Court yesterday passed a split order on the bail petitions filed by Dhaka South City Corporation mayoral candidate Mirza Abbas in two cases.
Justice Quamrul Islam granted the BNP leader a three-week anticipatory bail while his colleague in the bench Justice Gobinda Chandra rejected both of Abbas’ pleas and ordered him to surrender to the trial court.
In the order, Justice Quamrul said the bail was granted under extraordinary circumstances and if he was not given bail it would prevent him from conducting election campaign.
Justice Gobinda observed that Abbas should be considered a fugitive since he had been on the run for the past four months to avoid arrest.
The petitions and the two orders would now be sent to Chief Justice SK Sinha so that he forms a single bench to hear the pleas.
Abbas’ counsels claimed that police could not arrest him as the bail was not disposed of while the state counsels said there was no bar to his arrest as “his status is now fugitive.”
Meanwhile, Mirza Abbas told reporters in the room of Supreme Court Bar Association President Khandoker Mahbub Hossain that he would go home and launch his election campaign.
When asked, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said police could arrest Mirza Abbas in the corruption case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission as he is yet to obtain bail in the case.
“After the order I do not think he can participate in the election and the campaign,” he said.
On April 13, the same High Court bench had ordered Abbas not to campaign or speak to the media before the bail verdict. The authorities were also told to keep hands off Abbas before the verdict.
According to his election affidavit, Abbas, a former mayor of Dhaka and a member of the BNP Standing Committee, is facing at least 37 cases and has secured bail in none of them.
There is a warrant for his arrest in a graft case filed by the ACC, which the HC bench refused to deal with.
Yesterday, the counsels of Abbas said they had lodged a petition with the Chief Justice to assign a bench to hear the case.
Dhaka police has issued stern warning against “fugitives” participating in the city polls of bifurcated Dhaka city corporation without securing bail in the cases they are accused of.
