The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Wednesday demanded that the petitions seeking pre-arrest bail be entertained, or else, it warned there will be dire consequences.
The SCBA also demanded measures to put an end to alleged corruption and bribery of the staff and officers at the highest judiciary.
The demand came at a special general meeting of the SCBA held with its president Khandker Mahbub Hossain in the chair.
Khandker Mahbub said the pre-arrest bail pleas must be entertained by the High Court not only in the interest of the lawyers but also for the ends of justice.
“No one comes from a remote village to seek pre-arrest bail for one’s pleasure,” he said, adding that they come from the countryside to save their image and dignity.
Khandker Mahbub, also an adviser to the BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, was critical of the recent Appellate Division order imposing guidelines over disposing of pre-arrest bail pleas, and said the HC has its inherent power given by the constitution and under section 498 of the CrPC that cannot be restricted by guidelines, terming it contradictory to the rule of law.
The SCBA leader said pre-arrest bail pleas have to be entertained until police stop filing cases of political vengeance, arrest business and filing of criminal cases mentioning huge accused as unknown ones. “There’ll be dire consequences if pre-arrest bail petitions are denied,” he warned.
SCBA secretary barrister Mahbubuddin Khokon, former SCBA secretaries Saidur Rahman and barrister Badruddoza Badal and former SCBA vice president ABM Waliur Rahman and barrister Ruhul Quddus Kajol, among others, spoke at the meeting.
Source: UNB Connect
