Man jailed for seven years over blasphemous comments on Facebook
A Sylhet court sentenced Rakesh Roy, general secretary of Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mohajote, to seven years in prison over a case filed under the ICT Act in 2017 for posting derogatory comments against Islam on Facebook.
Sylhet Cyber Tribunal Judge Abul Kashem announced the verdict under section 57 of the ICT Act Tuesday (3 January).
The convict was arrested on 7 June, 2017, assistant public prosecutor of the court Mustafa Dilwar Al Azhar told The Business Standard.
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The plaintiff, Fujayel Ahmed, filed the case against Roy under section 57 of the ICT Act, now recognised as the Digital Security Act, accusing him of posting blasphemous remarks on social media.
Besides the jail sentence, Mustafa said, the court imposed a fine of Tk1 lakh.
He said that Rakesh, who was out on bail, was present in court when the verdict was announced, and was ordered sent to jail afterward.
The defendant's lawyer Ishtiaq Ahmad Chowdhury said he will appeal against the verdict to the higher court.
In his defence, Rakesh Roy alleged a man named Abdul Aziz was working to convert the Hindus of Zakiganj. He protested against the move which led to a vested group creating a fake ID under his name on Facebook making the derogatory comments.
