The Supreme Court yesterday stayed for two weeks a High Court order that granted bail to Abu Bakkar Siddique, owner of Pinak-6 launch, which capsized in the river Padma last year, in a case filed for negligence.

Abu Bakkar cannot get released from jail following the SC order, Deputy Attorney General Khandaker Diliruzzaman told The Daily Star.

The order came following a petition filed by the government seeking stay on the HC order.

Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, chamber judge of the Appellate Division of SC, also asked the government to submit a leave-to-appeal petition before the SC against the HC order in two weeks.

Pinak-6, which had a capacity of carrying only 85 passengers, sank in the river with more than 250 passengers on August 4 last year. A total of 48 bodies were recovered and 62 remained missing.

Jahangir Zia, traffic inspector at Mawa river port, filed the case on August 5 saying that the launch carried passengers more than three times its capacity for profit.

Following a petition filed by Abu Bakkar, the HC on March 2 this year granted him six months' interim bail and also issued a rule upon the government to explain why the petitioner should not be granted regular bail in the case.