The High Court on Monday deferred the hearing of the bail petitions filed by BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s lawyer in connection with two separate cases and set Tuesday for the hearing.

A bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice JBM Hasan passed the order as Attorney General Mahbubey Alam sought time for taking preparation for placing arguments on the petitions, reports the UNB.

Earlier, the hearing was scheduled for Monday.

Among the two cases one was filed in Cumilla on charge of plotting to carry out subversive acts and another in Narail on charge of defamation, said BNP Legal Affairs Secretary Advocate Kaisar Kamal.

Meanwhile, appeal hearing of another case filed under Special Power Act for instigating vandalism and arson attack on a covered van at Choddogram area on Dhaka-Chattogram Highway on January 25 in 2015, will be held on Wednesday, he said.

Earlier on Sunday, the HC granted permission to Khaleda for filing the bail petitions after her lawyers sought for it.

The Appellate Division earlier on Wednesday upheld the High Court order that had granted bail to convicted BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

However, the BNP chief was not freed from jail as Khaleda was shown arrested in the cases filed with different police stations in Cumilla, Dhaka, Narail and Panchagarh.

The BNP chairperson is now facing a total of 36 cases.

Eight people were killed and at least 20 others injured when miscreants hurled a petrol bomb at a bus at Jogmohanpur in Chouddagram of Cumilla district during the BNP-led alliance’s movement on February 3, 2015.

On December 21, 2015, Khaleda Zia at a discussion at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh raised questions about the actual number of Liberation War martyrs saying, ‘There’re controversies over how many were martyred in the Liberation War.’

Reacting to Khaleda’s remark, a defamation case was filed against her with a Narail court on December 14.