HC stays proceedings for three more months
The High Court yesterday extended by three months its earlier order that had stayed all operations of a Dhaka court dealing with an arson case against 46 opposition leaders and activists.
The earlier order was given on August 6, staying the proceedings of the Speedy Trial Court-5 for eight weeks following a writ petition filed by an accused, Mahbub Uddin Khokon, also a BNP lawmaker.
The petition had challenged the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court's decision to give power to Metropolitan Magistrate Harun-or Rashid to conduct the trial court.
The 46 opposition men, including BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, were charged with setting afire a bus near the Prime Minister's Office during the April 29 hartal.
The court farmed charges against the accused on July 31.
Yesterday's HC order came following an extension petition filed by Khokon.
In the latest petition, he said the trial court did not have any legal jurisdiction to deal with the case, as the government had not issued any gazette giving the judicial power to that court as per the relevant law.
The HC's August 6 stay order will expire towards the end of September, but the new extension started from yesterday because of advanced filing of the extension petition, Khokon told The Daily Star.
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