HC rule on govt

The High Court (HC) yesterday issued rules upon the government to show cause as to why the orders of detention against former housing and public works minister Mirza Abbas and former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar “should not be declared illegal”.
Upon separate writ petitions filed by Abbas and Babar, two division benches of the HC passed the orders.
One HC bench gave the government eight days to explain detention of Abbas while another granted 10 days for explanation in Babar's case.
The bench comprising Justice Tariq ul Hakim and Justice Farah Mahbub issued a rule following a petition filed by Abbas challenging the validity of the detention order.
Meanwhile, an HC division bench comprising Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui, following a petition filed by Babar challenging his detention order, also issued an identical rule upon the government.
On October 30, the government held back Abbas in prison by issuing a one-month detention order against him just before his release from jail on bail in all the cases.
The government on October 26 issued a 30-day detention order, when he was about to be set free on bail from Dhaka Central Jail.
Arrested from his Gulshan residence with illegal firearms on May 28 last year amid a crackdown on the politicians, Babar was sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment in an arms case.
On October 16, the High Court, upon pending appeal against verdict of the lower court, granted Babar interim bail for six months on health grounds.