SC bars arrest of ex-CJ Khairul Haque withoutspecific case

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday upheld a High Court order barring authorities from showing former chief justice ABM Khairul Haque arrested or harassing him without a specific case.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury disposed of the state petition filed challenging the High Court order in this regard.

Khairul’s lawyers included Kamrul Haque Siddiqui, Sara Hossain, Mostafizur Rahman Khan, Mahbub Shafik and Monaem Nabi Shaheen.

Deputy Attorney General Mohammad Mehedi Hasan Chowdhury represented the state.

After the former chief justice secured bail from the High Court, police showed him arrested on March 30 in two murder cases filed with Jatrabari and Adabor police stations.

The Jatrabari case was filed over the killing of madrassah student Md Arif while the Adabar case concerns the killing of garment worker Md Rubel.

Although Khairul had secured bail in five cases, he remained in jail after being shown arrested in the two other cases.

Khairul is also accused in three other criminal cases of sedition, fraud, and judicial misconduct linked to the 2011 verdict that declared the caretaker government system illegal.
He served as the chief justice from September 30, 2010 to May 17, 2011.

The police arrested Khairul at his Dhanmondi residence on July 24, 2025, nearly a year after the July mass uprising in 2024 that led to the fall of the Awami League government.