According to the proposed amendment to the rules, women, children of up to 18 years of age, and single women, who are co-defendants in cases filed under the emergency powers rules, will be entitled to appeal for bail. Courts will decide whether they will be granted bail until the cases are resolved in trial courts, sources in the home ministry said.

"But a co-defendant in a case will have to serve the time, if convicted," said a ministry official. He said no principal accused however will be entitled to get the benefit of the amendment.

The home ministry on last Thursday sent the draft of the amendment to the law ministry for vetting, and a gazette notification is expected to be issued in a couple of days amending the rules, the sources added.

Apart from the proposed amendment pertaining to bail, the rules are also being amended to empower the government to transfer cases, filed under the emergency powers rules, to special courts for trails.

The National Taskforces on Prevention of Serious Crimes and Corruption will also be brought under the jurisdiction of the emergency powers rules with retrospective effect from January 12 to strengthen their activities, the sources said.

The government on March 21 amended once before the Emergency Powers Rules 2007, which had been first formulated on January 26 under the authorities given by the Emergency Powers Ordinance 2007, suspending defendants' right to appeal for bail until a case is resolved in trial courts.

The suspension of the right to petition for bail caused uproar within the legal community and rights activists.

Facing severe criticisms, the caretaker government on April 8 brought further amendments to the Emergency Powers Rules allowing bail in some cases under the penal code. But persons facing trials for offences specified in the emergency rules continued being denied the opportunity of seeking bail at any stage of case proceedings -- from the first information report to the judgment.

Due to the stringent provisions, women and children, who had been co-accused in graft cases along with the prime accused, were also detained, giving rise to criticisms again. Amid such a situation, the government now is moving to amend the rules once again.

About the amendment pertaining to transferring cases to special courts, sources in the home ministry said around 700 cases have been filed under the emergency powers rules.

“Once the rules are amended, the government will decide which cases filed under the emergency rules will be sent to special courts established under the Criminal Procedure Court Act 1958 for trails," said a senior official.

The cases filed by the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) are being tried by five special courts set up on the premises of Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban. But it is not possible to send any case filed under the emergency powers rules to the special courts for trials, unless the emergency powers rules are amended, the sources said.

A good number of former ministers and lawmakers including some heavyweights have been sued under the emergency powers rules during the ongoing state of emergency since January 11.

They will not be able to contest in any poll including the next parliamentary election if they fail to get their convictions overturned before the elections.

Filing of appeals against trial court verdicts will not remove the bar until and unless one's conviction is thrown away by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.