The High Court today fined Sikder Group Managing Director Ron Haque Sikder and his brother Dipu Haque Sikder for seeking anticipatory bail while staying abroad from a virtual bench in a case filed on charges of abducting, torturing and threatening to shoot two top officials of Exim Bank over loan permissions.
Rejecting their bail petition, the court ordered Ron and Dipu, now in Thailand, to submit 5,000 personnel protective equipment (PPE) each to the Prime Minister’s Relief and Welfare Fundin two weeks, as fine in order to contain the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Ron and Dipu have also been asked to submit a report to the Supreme Court registrar general’s office after giving the PPEs.
The HC bench of Justice Md Ashraful Kamal passed the order after virtually holding the hearing on the anticipatory bail petition jointly filed by Ron and Dipu.
Contacted, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told The Daily Star that following the HC order, there is no legal bar for law enforcers to arrest the two accused.
The attorney general vehemently opposed the bail petition, saying that the accused cannot seek anticipatory bail from the virtual HC bench while they are abroad.
Accused petitioners must surrender before the subordinate court concerned for bail in the case, he said, adding that only the trial proceedings of cases, including recording statement from witnesses, can run virtually without a physical presence.
Barrister Ajmalul Hossain QC, senior counsel for the accused petitioners, told the HC bench that his clients have filed the bail petition through the virtual system under the Usage of Information Technology in Court Act, 2020.
The law has permitted virtually filing any petition, he said, adding that an accused can file such a petition for bail in the particular situation involving the fundamental rights.
Deputy Attorney General Bashir Ahmed, who represented the state, told this newspaper that the HC fined the duo as they filed the bail petition “illegally and wasted time of the court”.
He said Barrister Ajmalul placed the arguments virtually, but the accused petitioners did not virtually appear before the HC during the hearing.
The details of the observation and grounds on which the HC passed the order will be known when it will release the full text of the order, Bashir added.
Advocate Muhammad Saifullah Mamun, lawyer for Ron and Dipu, could not instantly give details on the HC order and proceedings.
The brothers had jointly filed the petition on July 2 through Advocate Muhammad Saifullah.
On May 19, Director of Exim Bank Lt Col (Retired) Sirajul Islam filed the case with Gulshan Police Station against the two, for allegedly torturing two top officials of the bank and firing at them over a Tk 500-crore loan.
The accused brothers reportedly left the country by air on May 25.
