The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday dismissed an appeal filed by the state challenging the High Court order granting bail to Erfan Selim, son of Haji Selim, MP.
A full bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain dismissed the appeal upholding the HC order granting bail to Erfan Salim in a case filed over assaulting a Navy officer last year.
There is no legal bar for Erfan Salim to be released from the Dhaka Central Jail following the apex court order, said his lawyer Advocate Sayed Ahmed Raza.
He further said that the virtual bench of the apex court led by the Chief Justice passed the order after rejecting the petition filed by the state. Advocate Abdul Baset Majumdar also stood for Erfan Salim while Additional Attorney General Sheikh Mohammad Morshed and Deputy Attorney General Biswajit Debnath represented the state.
Syed Ahmed Raza said that five cases were filed against Erfan Salim in this connection. Of these, he was acquitted from two cases in lower court while he secured bail in two other cases from the High Court and now the Appellate Division upheld the High Court order in the last case.
On April 22, the Appellate Division fixed April 25 for hearing the petition filed by the state. On March 18, the High Court granted Erfan Salim’s bail which was later stayed for four weeks by the chamber judge on March 28. On April 8, Erfan Salim filed a petition challenging the stay order.
On October 25 in 2020, a private car hit Navy officer Lieutenant Wasif Ahmed Khan’s motorcycle near LabAid Hospital at Dhanmondi in the capital when he along with his wife was returning to his Mohammadpur residence from Nilkhet. Some people, including Erfan Salim, came out of the car and physically assaulted Wasif and verbally abused his wife.
Later, the Navy officer filed a case with Dhanmondi Police Station against four people. The three other accused are AB Siddique Dipu, 45, Md Zahid, 35, and Md Mizanur Rahman, 30. All of them are now in detention.
On October 26, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) detained Erfan Salim from his father’s residence in the old part of Dhaka. Two firearms, 38 walkie-talkies and liquor were also seized from the residence during the drive.
Erfan Salim was suspended from the post of councillor the next day. He was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for keeping walkie-talkies illegally and another six months for possessing illegal liquor by a mobile court led by RAB.
