Poet Sohel Hasan Galib sent to jail for ‘hurting religious sentiment’ 

Poet Sohel Hasan Galib has been sent to jail on charges of hurting religious sentiments on social media and in his poetry book.

The order was issued on Saturday afternoon by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court in Dhaka, a police officer from the CMM Court told The Business Standard.

Earlier on February 13, Sohel Hasan Galib was arrested from Fatullah, Narayanganj, by the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Lalbagh Division) under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

DB Sub-Inspector (SI) Humayun Kabir, the investigating officer of the case, produced Galib before the CMM Court in Dhaka and sought a 10-day remand for interrogation.

In the remand prayer, Humayun Kabir said that a book titled "Amar Khutba Guli" authored by Sohel Hasan Galib was published by Ujan Prokashoni, containing poems that are deemed offensive to religious sentiments.

Additionally, he mentioned that Sohel Hasan Galib had previously posted defamatory content on religion from his Facebook account. These actions sparked widespread outrage among the large Muslim population of Bangladesh, raising concerns of potential unrest, including at the book fair and other public places.

Under these circumstances, suspecting his involvement in the offence, Galib was arrested on February 13 at about 8:30pm from the Sanarpar area of Narayanganj, Kabir said.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the court rejected both the remand and bail petitions. Instead, the court ordered Sohel Hasan Galib to be sent to jail.

The court also directed the investigation officer to submit the investigation report within seven days.