Prothom Alo editor gets six-week anticipatory bail in DSA case
The High Court yesterday granted Prothom Alo Editor Matiur Rahman a six-week anticipatory bail in a case lodged under the Digital Security Act (DSA) with the capital's Ramna police station.
The Prothom Alo editor filed a petition in the morning, seeking anticipatory bail and the HC bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Aminul Islam passed the order after hearing the bail plea.
Barrister Fida M Kamal, Imtiaz Mahmood and advocate Proshanto Kumar Karmakar moved for Matiur Rahman, who was present at the hearing, while Additional Attorney General Mehedi Hasan Chowdhury and Deputy Attorney General Sujit Chatterjee represented the state at the hearing.
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On 29 March, an FIR was filed by a lawyer named Abdul Malek (Mashiur Malek), accusing Matiur Rahman, Prothom Alo reporter Shamsuzzaman Shams, an unnamed "assistant cameraman", and unnamed others of "using print, online, and electronic media to tarnish the image and reputation of the state".
In the FIR, the lawyer also mentioned that the accused were "purposefully spreading misinformation to deteriorate the law and order situation of the country".
The case was filed under sections 25, 31 and 35 of the DSA.
The plaintiff said the news reported by Shamsuzzaman Shams went viral on social media which "tarnished the image of the country and triggered criticism at home and abroad".
Moreover, there was a possibility of deterioration in the law and order situation in the country over the matter, the case statement said.
Later, Shamsuzzaman Shams, the paper's Savar correspondent who wrote the report, was sued in a separate case under the DSA on 29 March, around 10 hours after being picked up from his house near Jahangirnagar University by members of the Criminal Investigation Department of police.
Multiple national and international bodies including the Editors' Council, Editors' Guild of Bangladesh, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Manabadhikar Sanskriti Foundation and the Media Freedom Coalition have published separate statements condemning the arrest of Shams.
