The High Court yesterday fixed today for hearing the petitions filed by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia seeking bail in three different cases.

The bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice JBM Hassan fixed the date after Attorney General Mahbubey Alam sought time for taking preparation for placing arguments on the petitions.

The bench was scheduled to hold the hearing yesterday. Khaleda filed the petitions on May 20.

Her lawyers including Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain and Advocate AJ Mohammad Ali, however, were present before the bench for placing arguments.

Among the three cases, two were filed in Comilla. One was filed on the charge of vandalising vehicles on January 25 in 2015, and the other on the charge of killing seven persons and injuring 25-26 others by setting a passenger bus on fire at Chauddagram on February 2 of the same year.

The third case was filed by Raihan Faruki Imam with a Narail court on September 24, 2015, against her for making a statement about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the number of freedom fighters.

Khaleda made the comment on December 21, 2015, at a meeting at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) in Dhaka where she said Sheikh Mujib did not want the independence of the country but instead wanted to be the prime minister of Pakistan.

She also said there is a controversy over the number of freedom fighters.

Earlier on May 16, the SC upheld an HC order that granted bail to Khaleda for four months in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case in which she was sentenced to five years' imprisonment.

She, however, could not get released from jail following the SC judgement as she was shown arrested in seven other cases, including the three aforementioned ones.