The High Court (HC) on Tuesday granted bail to Syed Ashfaqul Haque, former executive editor of The Daily Star, and his wife Tania Khondoker in a case filed over the death of a domestic worker. 

The concerned lower court denied bail to couple three times previously, prompting them to seek the intervention of the High Court.

Ashfaqul has been in jail since his arrest on 6 February, the day teenage domestic worker Preeti Urang fell from his eighth-floor apartment in Mohammadpur area in the capital.

The HC bench of Justice Md Rezaul Hasan and Justice Fahmida Quader delivered the bail order after holding hearing on a High Court rule on the matter.

Ashfaqul will come out of jail once the jail authorities receive the written copy of the verdict, his lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star.

On 22 April, the HC bench issued the rule, asking the state to explain in eight weeks why Ashfaqul and his wife should not be granted bail in the case filed by Preeti's father over her death caused by negligence.

The court also granted bail to Tania for six months that day.

The bench issued the rule and the order following a petition filed by Ashfaqul and Tania seeking bail in the case.

Senior lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan appeared for the petitioners while Deputy Attorney General Yasmin Bithi opposed the bail petition. The full text of the HC order is yet to be released.

Preeti, 15, from Moulvibazar, died after falling through an opening at Ashfaqul's eighth-floor flat around 8:00am on February 6. Police took Ashfaqul and Tania into custody within hours of the incident.

BDST: 2150 HRS, JUNE 11, 2024
MSK