Prothom Alo editor gets anticipatory bail in DSA case
02 April 2023, 06:16 pm | Updated: 22 November 2024, 06:58 pm
The High Court has granted 6 weeks anticipatory bail to Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman in the Digital Security Act case filed at Ramna police station in the capital.
The HC bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Aminul Islam passed the order on Sunday (2 April).
Lawyers Fida M Kamal, ZI Khan Panna, Syeda Rizwana Hasan and Prashant Kumar Karmkar appeared for the petition in the court. Additional Attorney General Mehdi Hasan Chowdhury and Deputy Attorney General Sujit Chatterjee were for the state.
Earlier in the morning, Matiur Rahman filed a petition seeking anticipatory bail from the High Court (HC) in the DSA case.
On 29 March, an FIR was filed by a lawyer named Abdul Malek (Mashiur Malek), accusing Matiur Rahman, Prothom Alo reporter Shamsuzzaman Shams, an unnamed "assistant cameraman", and unnamed others of "using print, online, and electronic media to tarnish the image and reputation of the state."
In the FIR, the lawyer also mentioned that the accused were "purposefully spreading misinformation to deteriorate the law and order situation of the country."
The case was filed under sections 25, 31 and 35 of the DSA.
The plaintiff said the news reported by Shamsuzzaman Shams went viral on social media which "tarnished the image of the country and triggered criticism at home and abroad."
Moreover, there was a possibility of deterioration in the law and order situation in the country over the matter, the case statement said.
Later, Shamsuzzaman Shams, the paper's Savar correspondent who wrote the report was sued in a separate case under the DSA on March 29, around 10 hours after being picked up from his house near Jahangirnagar University by members of the Criminal Investigation Department of police.
Multiple national and international bodies including the Editors' Council, Editors' Guild of Bangladesh, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Manabadhikar Shongskriti Foundation (MSF) and the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC) have published separate statements condemning the arrest of Shams.
