HC to pass order on Cartoonist Kishore bail plea on 3 March

The High Court will announce its decision on Wednesday on a bail petition of cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore who has been in jail without trial for nine months in a case filed under the Digital Security Act.

An HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mustafizur Rahman set the date after hearing on the bail petition on Monday.

Along with Kishore, writer Mushtaq Ahmed, who was in jail in the same case, sought bail on 23 February. Two days later Mushtaq died at the Kashimpur jail in Gazipur.

Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua stood for Kishore in the court and Deputy Attorney General  Mohamamd Sarwar Hossain Bappi represented the state.

Both the accused had been rejected bail six times by a lower court before they filed bail appeals with the HC on 23 February.

During the hearing, the HC asked Jyotirmoy to submit an affidavit informing the court of Mushtaq's death so the court could abate his bail plea.

On 13 January, investigation officer Mohsin Sardar of Ramna Police Station submitted the chargesheet to the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court. The chargesheet named three as accused and dropped charges against eight others.  

The chargesheeted accused are cartoonist Kishore, writer Mushtaq and Didarul Bhuiyan, coordinator of Rashtrachinta, a network for political activism.

The names excluded from the chargesheet are Minhaj Mannan, Tasnim Khalil, Sahed Alam, Asif Mohiuddin, Sami, Ashik Imran, Swapan Wahid and Philip Shumakher.

The Rapid Action Battalion filed the case against 11 people on 5 May, 2020, on charges of spreading falsehood from a Facebook page, tarnishing the image of Bangladesh and creating confusion.