A judge of a trial court has offered unconditional apology to the High Court (HC) for granting bail in an unusual manner.
Iqbal Hossain, judge of Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-5, has apologized for granting bail to Partha Gopal Banik, a suspended deputy inspector general (DIG-prisons) of police for Sylhet range, who was arrested with Tk 80 lakh in cash.
The judge expressed apology in his written explanation submitted before the High Court bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman on Sunday (August 22).
Earlier, the HC bench had sought written explanation from the trial court’s judge for granting bail to Partha Gopal Banik.
On January 25 this year, another bench led by Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder refused to grant bail to the suspended DIG and directed the special judge’s court-5 to dispose of his trial.
However, in a virtual hearing on June 17, Judge Iqbal Hossain granted ad-interim bail to Partha Gopal Banik upon a bond of Tk 50,000 with two guarantors from his residence in Dhaka even though the prosecution raised serious objection. Later, the accused was freed from jail.
Granting the bail had drawn flak from various quarters including the High Court. News items were also published in this regard.
In his written explanation, Judge Iqbal Hossain said that the six-month time limit had expired as the order did not arrive on time. He, however, said that he is always trying to comply with the High Court order.
On July 28 in 2019, the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) arrested Partha Gopal Banik after interrogating him at the commission headquarters and seized Tk 80 lakh from his Kalabagan flat in Dhaka.
The suspended DIG along with his wife appeared at the commission headquarters in connection with a case lodged against them for amassing illegal wealth of about Tk 3.14 crore.
