HC declares bail-related EPR provisions illegal

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The High Court Thursday declared "illegal" the trident sections of the Emergency Power Rules (EPR) that deny people's right to seek bail or challenge any order under the emergency ordinance, reports UNB.
As per the triple-bar any accused booked under the emergency rules could neither seek bail under the EPR nor under the general law CrPC.
Such an accused couldn't raise any question in any court of law against any action under the Emergency Power Ordinance (EPO) 2007.
"Such rules are illegal and unconstitutional," an HC bench said in its judgment partially proscribing the emergency powers rules under which many top politicians and other bigwigs were put behind bars in the interim period.
The HC division bench, comprising Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice MA Hye, gave the rulings in part on its rule issued on June 15 upon a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) writ petition.
Former adviser of caretaker government and Ain O Salish Kendra Executive Director Sultana Kamal, Daily New Age Editor Nurul Kabir and Assistant Professor of Dhaka University Sheikh Hafizur Rahman Karzon jointly filed the PIL writ petition.
The EPR provisions declared illegal are contained in sections 11(3), 19 (Gha) and (Uma).
Section 11(3) bars bail to any convict-appellant tried under the EPR. It says 'if any court convicts a person for committing corruption, no other court can grant bail to the convict or stay the conviction order until an appeal, if the accused chooses to file, is disposed of'.
Section 19 (gha) forbids seeking bail by an accused facing criminal case under the EPR during the inquiry, investigation and trial of the case, no matter what is stated in sections 497 and 498 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) or any other law.
And section 19 (Uma) negates rights of an accused to seek redress from any higher courts against any order given by any court or tribunal before or during the trial until the delivery of the final verdict.
Shortly after the significant judgment, a government attorney prayed for a court certificate so that it could move to the Appellate Division straightway against the HC rulings.
But the HC bench summarily turned down the plea.
In its judgment the HC bench observed that since the Constitution is, as the solemn expression of the will off the people, the supreme law of the Republic, its authority cannot be curbed by promulgating any Ordinance or its Rules.
"The power inherited by the higher court under the Constitution in dispensation of justice cannot also be curtailed by any Ordinance followed by Rules," the court maintained.
The court opined that the state of emergency can only suspend the operation of certain fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution, but cannot hit the basic structure of the Constitution by suspending the constitutional rights.