Robi served legal notice by Kazi Nazrul’s granddaughter

Khilkhil Kazi, granddaughter of Kazi Nazrul Islam, has served a legal notice on Robi Axiata Ltd for defaming the national poet by using Rabindranath Tagore's photo instead of his in a social media post that paid tribute to Nazrul on his birth anniversary.

Supreme Court lawyer M Imtiaz Farooq on Sunday sent the legal notice to the telecom operator on behalf of her. 

The notice said by making such an offensive post on a social media platform like Facebook, Robi has violated multiple acts, including the National Broadcasting Policy, the National Online Media Policy 2017, and Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulation Act 2001.

It demanded that Robi publicly admit its wrongful conduct, negligence, and failure to uphold the dignity of the national poet in all major national newspapers as well as television channels and social media. 

According to the notice, Robi is required to pay exemplary damages, which will be used to fund research on Kazi Nazrul. This would be administered through a trust under the supervision of the national poet's family.

In addition, Khilkhil asked Robi to present the due royalties for copyright infringement.

Earlier, the government had asked Robi to explain their actions regarding the Facebook post within seven working days.

The 122nd birthday of Kazi Nazrul was observed in the country on 25 May. 

On 27 May, Robi made a social media post, paying tribute to the legendary poet. The telco giant, however, used a picture of another great Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore.

The post immediately received a lot of backlashes.