The decision of a single High Court bench to grant bail to 572 accused in one day has become the talk of the Supreme Court.
The decision triggered discussions among lawyers about judicial activism and the court鈥檚 expanding role in protecting individual rights.
The bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Yousuf Abdullah Suman, sitting as the vacation court on September 24, disposed of 1,650 bail petitions in a single day 鈥� the last day of the vacation session.
According to the bench鈥檚 cause list on September 24, most of the cases were linked to the July uprising in 2024.
Among those granted bail, 135 received anticipatory, or pre-arrest, bail, 141 were released as their names did not appear in the first information reports.
The rest were granted bail on different grounds.
Deputy attorney general Mehedi Hasan told 抖阴精品 on Saturday that the government appealed against more than 150 of those bail orders, excluding the pre-arrest bail cases.
He said that the state had also sought to stay the bail orders and re-arrest the accused who had already been released.
He added that the High Court directed the accused in murder cases,聽 including those related to the July violence, to surrender before lower courts within four weeks, while granting anticipatory bail in non-violent charges.
In another significant move, the same bench issued rules in six cases filed against former food minister and Awami League leader Qamrul Islam 鈥� now a practicing lawyer 鈥攁sking the government to explain why he should not be granted bail.
Legal observers said that the mass granting of bail in a single sitting reflected a strong instance of judicial activism aimed at ensuring access to justice amid politically sensitive prosecutions.
