Staff Reporter :The High Court (HC) on Wednesday passed split order on the bail petition of BNP-backed Mayor candidate of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mirza Abbas in two cases.Justice Quamrul Islam Siddique granted three weeks’ bail for the BNP leader, while the other judge of the two-member bench Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore rejected his bail plea, asking the petitioner to surrender to the lower court.With the split judgment of the HC bench, the case will now move to the Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, who is expected to constitute a new bench for further hearing.It means that the BNP leader, who has appeared in public for the first time in the last three months, will have to wait until the disposal of the matter in the other bench to hit the campaign trail. Abbas, the Standing Committee member of BNP and former Mayor of undivided Dhaka City Corporation in the 1990s, is not being able to take part in his electoral campaign as cases are pending against him. Police filed two separate cases against Mirza Abbas on charge of vandalism and burning cars. One case was filed with Motijheel Police Station on January 4, and the other was lodged with Paltan Police Station on December 28 last year. In the order, the court said, police cannot arrest Mirza Abbas in the two cases until the disposal of his bail petitions by a third judge.However, the court also refused to hear another bail petition of Abbas as the case was filed by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), saying that there is a designated HC bench to deal with the ACC cases.Earlier, Abbas appeared to the HC on April 13, seeking anticipatory bail in the three cases. The court asked Abbas not to campaign or talk to the media before the Wednesday’s order on his bail petitions. It also asked the Police not to arrest him until the settlement of the issue. Advocate AJ Mohammad Ali appeared for Abbas, while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam stood for the state in the hearing. The other lawyer of Abbas Advocate Badruddoza Badal said, the things would remain the same until the case is disposed of by the third bench. Though Police cannot arrest him for the two cases, he is not allowed to take part in the election campaign or talk to the media till then, he said. In the absence of Abbas, his wife Afroza Abbas has taken the charge of the election campaign for him. The election will be held on April 28.
