HC grants record 1,498 bail petitions in a day
In a historic move, a High Court bench yesterday disposed of 1,498 bail petitions.
This is the first precedent in the history of the country's judiciary that an HC division bench has disposed of so many bail-related cases in a single day, court sources said.
The HC bench of Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif and Justice KM Zahid Sarwar Kazal disposed of the rules on the ground that all accused petitioners, who obtained ad-interim bail earlier, have not abused bail after getting released from jail.
Day labourer Md Amin Sheikh, 35, from Poyda village in Pabna was arrested on February 8, 2018 in a robbery case, which was lodged with Ullapara Police Station in Sirajganj six years back.
The case was filed by Tabibul Alam Khan of Khademtola village in Ullapara on December 22, 2012.
Tabibul stated in the case statement that unidentified robbers broke open the doors and entered the houses of his uncles -- Sharif Khan and Khorshed Alam Khan – and a cousin in the village, and looted gold ornaments, mobile phones and Tk 7.67 lakh from them. The robbers had threatened them at night the previous day.
Police submitted the charge sheet in the case against Amin Sheikh and other accused to the court concerned in Sirajganj on December 31, 2013.
After spending more than 10 months behind bars, accused Amin Sheikh obtained bail from the High Court in the robbery case.
Following a bail petition filed by Amin Sheikh, the HC on December 17, 2018, granted him ad-interim bail for a year and also issued a rule asking the state to explain in four weeks why he should not be granted permanent bail.
Later, Amin Sheikh got released from jail, but his bail petition along with the rule had been pending with the HC over the years.
Interestingly, neither the lawyer for Amin Sheikh nor the state has taken any initiative for hearing and disposal of those at the HC.
Even, Amin Sheikh's lawyer Md Kawser Ali has forgotten the rule and bail of Amin Sheikh, though his name and address have been mentioned as the lawyer in documents attached to the bail petition.
"I cannot say whether I have moved any bail petition on behalf of any accused named Amin Sheikh before the High Court. Therefore, I will not make any comment on this issue," Kawser Ali told The Daily Star.
Like this one, several thousand such long-pending bail petitions have been pending with the HC, which is dealing with a backlog of more than five lakh cases.
Against this backdrop, an HC bench in a major decision yesterday disposed of a 1,498 long-pending bail petitions, including that of Amin Sheikh, confirming the bail of all accused petitioners.
Earlier, the judges of the HC bench examined the relevant files of the 1,498 rules and then ordered the officials concerned to include those in yesterday's cause list for passing order.
Multiple accused have secured bail in bail petitions which were finally settled by the bench led by Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif, as a result, a few thousand accused have got bail. This bench is expected to pass similar orders in more than 1,000 cases today.
The petitioners face criminal charges, including murder, rape, robbery, torture of women and children, abduction, mugging, human trafficking and addiction, according to sources.
Earlier in 2019, another HC bench led by Justice M Enayetur Rahim (now a judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court) had disposed of around 1,200 similar cases in a single day.
SC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan and Deputy Attorney General Aminul Islam told The Daily Star that disposal of such a large number of rules in petty cases will help reduce the huge backlog of cases.
On April 17, Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique constituted 13 HC benches, including that of Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif and Justice KM Zahid Sarwar Kazal, for the disposal of such long-pending bail petitions.
Yesterday, 10 HC benches disposed of around 3,500 bail petitions, which were filed from 2016 to 2019, said the sources.
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