The High Court (HC) has granted bail to former executive editor of The Daily Star, Syed Ashfaqul Haque, who has been in jail in a case filed over the death of a teenage domestic help at his home in the capital's Mohammadpur area.
An HC bench of Justice Md Rezaul Hasan and Justice Fahmida Quader granted the bail on Tuesday (11 June).
Preeti Urang, daughter of a tea worker in Moulvibazar, fell to her death from the eighth-floor apartment of Syed Ashfaqul Haque in Dhaka's Mohammadpur on 6 February this year.
The next day, her father, Lukesh Urang, filed a case with Mohammadpur police station, against Ashfaqul Haque and his wife, Tania Khondoker. Following the filing of the case, both accused were promptly arrested.
The couple were sent to jail after a court denied them bail.
Lukesh, in the case, said Preeti fell from the apartment due to the absence of safety bars on the window of the flat's drawing space. He highlighted that a similar incident occurred in August last year, where another housekeeper sustained severe injuries from falling out of the same window.
Lukesh attributed these repeated accidents to the negligence and carelessness of the house owner and occupants, emphasising the lack of protective barriers on the windows as the root cause.
Rights organisations have been protesting Preeti's death in recent days demanding a fair investigation into the incident and justice for the deceased.
On 21 April, HC granted bail to Tania Khondokar on special consideration of her being a female.
