Mahmudur Rahman files petition against BNP's Apollo, columnist Maruf over posts linking Amar Desh to Prothom Alo, Daily Star attacks

A petition has been filed with a Dhaka court seeking permission to initiate legal proceedings against BNP Information and Technology Affairs Secretary AKM Wahiduzzaman (Apollo) and writer-columnist FM Rashedul Haque Mallik, also known as Maruf Mallik, over spreading of false and defamatory information on Facebook linking Amar Desh newspaper to attacks on the offices of Prothom Alo and The Daily Star. 

Amar Desh editor Mahmudur Rahman submitted the petition today (28 December) to the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Jewel Rana. 

After recording the complainant's statement, the court kept the matter pending for orders.

Barrister Tanvir Ahmed Al Amin, counsel for the plaintiff, confirmed the filing.

According to the complaint, student-led protests erupted across Dhaka and other parts of the country on the night of 18 December following news of the death of Sharif Osman Hadi. 

The petition alleges that taking advantage of the unrest, a group of individuals attacked the offices of Prothom Alo and The Daily Star at Karwan Bazar, branding the outlets as collaborators of a fallen regime and creating an undesirable situation.

The complaint claims that in the aftermath of the incident, the accused and what it describes as an opportunistic group sought to exploit the situation by orchestrating a campaign against Mahmudur Rahman and Amar Desh. 

It alleges that false, fabricated and malicious content was deliberately created and disseminated with the intent to mislead the public, incite disorder, and damage the reputation and social standing of the editor and the newspaper.

The petition further alleges that at around 10:30pm on 19 December, Maruf published a Facebook post falsely portraying Amar Desh and its editor as participants in the attacks on Prothom Alo and The Daily Star. The post is described as baseless, inflammatory and defamatory, aimed at fuelling hostility, hatred, rumours and public unrest.

It is also alleged that Apollo, acting in concert, endorsed and shared the post on Facebook with supportive commentary, further amplifying the claims.

The petition states that the alleged defamatory posts severely harmed the reputation of both the editor and Amar Desh, while also causing reputational damage to journalists, officials, employees and others associated with the newspaper, and fostering hostility and animosity against them among the public.

Mahmudur said he became aware of the posts while at Amar Desh's head office in Karwan Bazar and was deeply distressed by their contents.