Murder case: Ex-CJ Khairul denied bail

Staff Reporter :

A Dhaka court has rejected the bail plea of ABM Khairul Haque, former chief justice and ex-chairman of the Law Commission, in connection with a murder case linked to the killing of a Jubo Dal activist in the capital’s Jatrabari area last year.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Masum Mia passed the order on Wednesday following a hearing on Haque’s bail petition, court officials confirmed.

During the hearing, Advocate Monayem Nabi Shahin, counsel for Haque, argued that the case had been filed with the sole intent of harassing his client. He pointed out that the incident occurred on 18 July last year, but the case was not lodged until nearly a year later, on 6 July this year-when Haque was also arrested.

“There is no reasonable explanation for this delay,” Monayem said in court, adding that Haque, who retired as chief justice on 17 June 2011, was under official police protection until 5 August 2023.

He also claimed that on the day of the incident, Haque had returned home directly and did not go anywhere near Jatrabari, where the murder took place.
Detective Branch (DB) officers arrested Khairul Haque from his Dhanmondi residence on 24 July. He was subsequently sent to jail that night.

The following day, on 30 July, he was placed on a seven-day remand in a separate case filed with Shahbagh Police Station. That case accuses the former top judge of delivering politically motivated verdicts and forging court documents during his tenure.

The murder charge relates to the death of Jubo Dal activist Abdul Kaiyum Ahad, who was shot dead during the July Uprising in Kajla area of Jatrabari on 18 July last year.

The victim’s father, Alauddin, filed the murder case on 6 July this year with Jatrabari Police Station, naming 467 people as accused, including the deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Haque’s legal team is expected to appeal the bail rejection in a higher court in the coming days.