The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Monday upheld a High Court (HC) order that granted bail to Awami League leader Golam Kibria alias Boro Monir in a rape case.

A six-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan, passed the order after rejecting a petition filed by the state seeking stay on the High Court order.

As a result of this order, there is no obstacle to the release of Kibria from jail, his lawyer said.

Also read: Rape case against Tangail AL leader Kibria: SC stays bail of Kibria, his wife

Senior advocate Sayeed Ahmed Raja appeared for Monir in the court. He was accompanied by lawyers Abdullah Al Mamun, Golam Sarwar and Tarek Md Bin Asad.

Deputy Attorney General Sujit Chatterjee Bappi represented the state.

Tangail city Awami League vice-president Golam Kibria is not the biological father of the child who born to the girl who filed the case on charges of rape. This information came in the report of the child's DNA test.

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Golam Kibria is the elder brother of Tanvir Hasan alias Choto Monir, an Awami League MP from Tangail-2 (Gopalpur-Bhuapur) constituency. He (Golam Kibria) is also the secretary general of the District Bus-Minibus Owners Association.

On April 5, a girl filed a case with Tangail Sadar Police Station accusing Golam Kibria of rape. Golam Kibria's wife Nigar Aftab was also made an accused in the case.

In the FIR, the girl mentioned that Golam Kibria was her relative and former acquaintance. Recently, the girl had a dispute with her brother over her ancestral property. After informing Golam Kibria about the dispute, he assured to resolve it.

Later Kibria called the girl to a building next to her house on December 17 last year where he snatched her mobile phone and raped her, according to the case statement.

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The girl had alleged that she was raped multiple times on the pretext of circulating her pictures.

On July 11, the High Court granted six-month interim bail to Golam Kibria in the case. The state had appealed to the Appellate Division against the bail.

The petition came up for hearing in the Chamber Court of the Appellate Division on July 12.

On that day, the chamber court stayed the bail granted to Golam Kibria by the High Court. The court also directed the relevent authorities to conduct a DNA test on the child born to the girl, who had filed the rape case, and submit a report to the court.

At the hearing on the matter on August 21, the Appellate Division directed the investigation officer of the case to implement the order given by the chamber judge on July 12 regarding DNA test.

At the same time, the petition filed by the state has been fixed for hearing on October 9.

The hearing was held today.

Earlier, the PBI (Police Bureau of Investigation) submitted the report of the DNA test to the Appellate Division.

According to the report, Tangail city Awami League Vice-President Golam Kibria alias Boro Monir is not the father of the newborn born to the alleged rape victim. The newborn's DNA did not match that of the Boro Monir, said his lawyer Sayeed Ahmed Raja.

"The Appellate Division dismissed the petition filed by the state. As a result, there is no legal bar to his release from prison,” he said.