Published : 13 May 2025, 12:05 AM
Selina Hayat Ivy, former mayor of Narayanganj City Corporation and former senior vice-president of the district Awami League, has been denied bail.
At the same time, the court has ordered that she be granted division in jail.
The decision was issued on Monday afternoon by Senior Judicial Magistrate Shamsur Rahman in Narayanganj, according to her lawyer SM Siddiqur Rahman.
He said, “We informed the court that Ivy is a clean and honest politician. She served three terms as mayor of Narayanganj City Corporation and was a municipality chairman. Her arrest has tarnished the government's reputation.”
Another defence lawyer, Mahbubur Rahman Masum, added that after the court rejected the bail petition, they requested the court to grant her division in jail. The court then instructed prison authorities to do so.
Ivy remained in her home even as most Awami League leaders and activists in Narayanganj fled after the fall of the government in the face of a mass uprising in August.
On Thursday, a team of police from Sadar Model Police Station went to Ivy's ancestral home "Chunka Kutir" around 11:30pm.
Meanwhile, thousands of locals took to the streets at night after hearing about the raid. They chanted slogans saying they would not allow Ivy to be arrested in the "dead of night."
Additional police personnel arrived at the scene but had to step back as the public blocked them.
Senior officials of police went inside and spoke to Ivy. However, she said she would not go anywhere "at night." Police then remained inside her home.
After six hours of waiting, Ivy got on a police vehicle voluntarily, and was taken to the office of the district superintendent of police.
She was later shown as arrested in connection with a murder case filed during the July Uprising, and was subsequently transferred to Kashimpur Central Jail in Gazipur.
According to police, Ivy has been named as accused in five cases involving allegations of murder and attempted murder during the July Uprising.