The High Court on Monday granted eight weeks’ anticipatory bail to Jamaat-e-Islami MP Mufti Amir Hamza in a defamation case filed in Sirajganj.

The HC bench of Justice Zahid Sarwar Kajal and Justice Sheikh Abu Taher passed the order after hearing a petition, his lawyer Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir told media.

So, the arrest warrant issued against him will remain ineffective, he said.

Earlier, Amir Hamza filed a bail petition with the High Court in the case.

On April 2, Humayun Kabir, Additional Public Prosecutor of the Sirajganj District Sessions and Judge Court and General Secretary of the District Bar Association, filed the case against Hamza for allegedly making defamatory remarks about Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood Tuku.

On the same day, Amir Hamza was summoned to appear before the court on April 21. The court issued an arrest warrant as he failed to appear on the scheduled date.

On April 21, the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court of Sirajganj issued another arrest warrant against him.

Earlier on March 26, Amir Hamza reportedly referred to Energy Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood Tuku as an atheist and Islamophobic during a discussion at the Hatsh Haripur Boro Jame Mosque in Kushtia Sadar upazila.