The Supreme Court has stayed for four months a High Court order that granted bail to Khadizatul Kubra, a first-year honours student of Jagannath University (JnU) in two separate cases filed under the Digital Security Act (DSA).
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Monday (July 10) kept stand-over (waiting for hearing) four petitions involving her bail for four months.
The state filed two petitions challenging the HC’s bail order, while Khadiza submitted two petitions seeking order to vacate the SC chamber judge’s order that stayed her bail in the cases.
A full bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique issued the order after a hearing on the petitions.
Advocate BM Elias Kochi argued for Khadiza and Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua argued for Khadiza during the hearing, while Assistant Attorney General Mohammad Saiful Alam represented the state. During the hearing, Khadiza’s lawyers argued that she was not responsible for the views of guests who featured in videos on her YouTube channel.
Khadiza’s lawyer BM Elias Kachi told media that his client, who is from a poor family and a kidney patient, has been suffering in jail for the last 11 months in the cases. She has already missed two semester exams and cannot get released from jail following the apex court order, he said.
The lawyer said that the High Court on February 16 granted permanent bail to his client in the cases following her two appeals. The state then filed two petitions with the SC challenging the HC’s bail order.
Following the state’s petitions, the SC chamber judge stayed the HC order of bail.
Khadiza submitted two petitions to the Appellate Division praying to this court to vacate the chamber judge’s stay order, said the lawyer.
He said that the SC chamber judge sent all the four petitions to its full bench for their hearing.
Assistant Attorney General Mohammad Saiful Alam told media that the bail of Khadiza will remain halted for four months following the SC order.
Police filed two cases against Khadiza and retired Maj Delowar Hossain with Kalabagan and New Market Police Stations in October 2020 for spreading anti-government propaganda and damaging the reputation of Bangladesh.
The case documents claim that Khadiza and Delowar engaged in a conspiracy to spread false, fabricated, and defamatory propaganda against the prime minister, several government agencies, and important state officials, aiming to overthrow the country’s legitimate government. It said that they were attempting to destroy communal harmony by sowing enmity, hatred, and division among different communities through their conspiracy.
According to her lawyers, Khadiza was 17 when the Digital Security Act cases were filed in 2020, but she was charged as an adult. Despite suffering from kidney issues, Khadiza’s bail pleas were rejected by a Dhaka court several times.
