<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>The Appellate Division on Sunday morning upheld the High Court order granting bail to BNP leaders Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Mirza Abbas in a case filed over the clash between police and the party activists at Naya Paltan on December 7 last year.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>A four-member bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order disposing of the state's petition challenging the High Court order.</div><div><br></div><div>The court also ordered the disposal of the High Court rule on maintenance grounds.</div><div><br></div><div>On January 4, Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Justice Jahangir Hossain fixed Sunday for the hearing of the petition at the full-bench of the Appellate Division.</div><div><br></div><div>The petition was filed on the same day with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court seeking stay on the High Court order granting bail to the two BNP leaders in the case.</div><div><br></div><div>The High Court granted six months' bail to Mirza Fakhrul and Mirza Abbas, in the case on January 3.</div><div><br></div><div>The High Court also issued a rule asking the government to explain why the two BNP leaders should not be granted permanent bail.</div><div><br></div><div>On December 21 last year, Dhaka Metropolitan Session Judge Asaduzzaman rejected the BNP leaders' bail petitions for the fourth time.</div><div><br></div><div>On December 9, a team of Detective Branch (DB) of police picked up Fakhrul and Abbas from their homes in separate raids in the capital.</div><div><br></div><div>Later, they were arrested in a case over the clash between police and the party activists in the capital's Nayapaltan. A Dhaka court sent them to jail rejecting their bail pleas. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>