HC rejects bail appeals for Tazreen owner, chairperson

The High Court yesterday rejected the bail petitions of Tazreen Fashions' owner Delwar Hossain and chairperson Mahmuda Akhter in a case filed over a deadly fire at the factory in November 2012, where 112 workers were killed.
The HC bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Zafar Ahmed passed the orders, considering that their petitions were not placed before it, as a state counsel vehemently opposed the petitions.
At the hearing, M Masud Alam Chowdhury, assistant attorney general, told the HC that a Dhaka court cancelled Mahmuda's bail on March 20 and asked her to surrender in 15 days before the lower court that granted her bail in the case in February.
But she did not surrender before the lower court, so she cannot be granted bail, Chowdhury said.
The assistant attorney general said Delwar should not be granted bail either as he cannot avoid the responsibility of the fire that took the lives of so many workers.
Mahmuda recently filed a petition with the HC seeking stay on the Dhaka order that cancelled her bail, and Delwar, who is now in jail, has filed a separate petition with the HC seeking bail in the same case, Chowdhury said.
Advocate Habibul Islam Bhuiyan appeared for Delwar and Mahmuda.  
On February 9, Mahmuda and Delwar, who is also the managing director of Tazreen, appeared before the court of Senior Judicial Magistrate Tajul Islam. The magistrate ordered to send them to jail.
The next day, Chief Judicial Magistrate Md Ismail Hossain granted a one-month bail to Mahmuda on health grounds but denied bail to Delwar.
In December last year, the police pressed homicide charges against 13 people, including Delwar and Mahmuda. The couple also faces charges of negligence that led to so many casualties in the blaze.