The High Court has granted bail to former lawmaker and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Akhtaruzzaman in a case filed over allegations of threatening the executive director of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and assaulting a security supervisor.
A High Court bench comprising Justice KM Zahid Sarwar Kajol and Justice Md Zakir Hossain granted his bail after hearing the petition on Sunday. Lawyer Shishir Monir represented Akhtaruzzaman during the hearing.
Earlier, on 26 October, the court of Dhaka’s Fifth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge, Sadekin Habib Bappi, rejected Akhtaruzzaman’s bail plea. His bail had also been turned down by the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court. After failing to secure bail from the lower courts, he moved the High Court.
Detective Branch (DB) of Police arrested Major (retd) Akhtaruzzaman from his residence in the DOHS area of the capital’s Cantonment on the afternoon of 2 October. The following day, a court granted police one day’s remand for him.
After the remand period ended, he was produced before the court on 4 October. His bail was rejected, and the court sent him to jail.
According to the case statement, tensions erupted at the airport on October 1 over alleged mismanagement, a shortage of luggage trolleys, delays in baggage collection and the unavailability of Zamzam water. The situation eventually escalated into alleged threats and intimidation.
A case was subsequently filed against Akhtaruzzaman over allegations of creating disorder at the airport, obstructing government duties and harassing a security official.
Retired Major Akhtaruzzaman was elected as a member of parliament twice from the Kishoreganj-2 constituency. He won the Katiadi constituency as a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) candidate in the 1991 and June 1996 parliamentary elections.
He joined Jamaat-e-Islami ahead of the 13th parliamentary election.
