Nusraat Faria in dock for 30 minutes

Actress Nusraat Faria, who has been implicated in a murder case, was brought to a Dhaka court by a microbus from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s (DMP) detective branch (DB) office on Monday morning, and was kept at the lock-up of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) court.

Just after 10:00 am, she was brought out of the lock-up to be taken to the court room. She was wearing a police helmet and a bulletproof vest.

Surrounded by several police members, Nusrat Faria took the stairs to go to the first floor, where the court sits.

When the actress was taken to the dock, a police member removed her helmet. It was 10:20 am at that time.

Nusraat Faria was staring at the wall for nearly 2-3 minutes. When a lawyer drew her attention, she talked to the lawyer. Judge Sarah Farzana Haque then entered the courtroom.

Nusraat Faria pensively stood in the dock for 30 minutes holding in to the railing. She, however, did not say anything at the court.

Her lawyer said Nusraat Faria was not even in the country when the incident she has been accused of took place.

The case documents say a certain Enamul Haque sustained bullet wounds during the mass uprising in the capital’s Bhatara area on 19 July. He filed the case at the CMM court on 3 May. Nusrat Faria is one of the accused in the case.

The prosecution appealed to the court to keep Nusraat Faria in jail, showing her arrested. Countering the appeal, Nusrat’s lawyer Mohammad Iftekhar Hasan told the court, Nusraat Faria is a “well-known actor. Acting is her profession; she is not a member of any political party. Not only this, Nusraat Faria wrote in her social media pages in favour of the anti-discrimination Student Movement, extending her sympathies to them.”

Mohammad Iftekhar Hasan further told the court that Nusraat Faria was in Canada on 19 July 2024, the day when the incident she has been accused of took place.

Stating that there are documents of this, the lawyer said Nusraat Faria returned to the country after completing her work abroad on 14 August last year.

He then produced her passport and visa documents before the court.

CMM court’s chief prosecutor Omar Faruq Faruqui strongly disagreed with the statement of Nusraat’s lawyer.

He told the court that there is no doubt Nusraat Faria is an actress but she is one of the main accomplices of fascist Sheikh Hasina

“Nusraat Faria acted in a biopic of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. She played the role of Sheikh Hasina there. There is no offence in acting. But she later said, there is Sheikh Hasina in every family. She tried to appease fascist Hasina by saying so.”

Claiming before the court that Nusraat Faria wanted to be an MP from a reserved seat, PP also said Nusraat Faria was arrested because of choosing to be an assistant of fascist Hasina.

PP Omar Faruq Faruqui further said, “We’re looking for another actor - actor Ferdous. He became an MP too through stuffing ballots. What all the fascists do - they use the artistes and actors who have popularity; fascist Sheikh Hasina also did the same, drew closer actors like Nusraat Faria, Ferdous and so on. They also helped prolong the rule of fascist Hasina.”

The PP also told the court that Nusraat Faria also promoted online gambling. “She was a goodwill ambassador of a gambling app; she has been misleading the youth.”

When the PP was speaking, glum Nusrat Faria in the dock was listening to what Omar Faruq Faruqui was saying.

Omar Faruq Faruqui said, “When the young students and people were taking part in the July movement, some artistes and actors poured hot water on them. They opened an online group, took a stand against the July movement.”

After hearing from both sides, the court said the bail order of Nusraat Faria will be held on 22 May. When the judge left the court, Nusraat Faria was taken to the lock-up again.

Around 8:00 am, Nusraat Faria’s mother Ferdousi Begum arrived at the court to meet her daughter. She was waiting at the office of deputy commissioner of Dhaka. From there she went in front of the lock-up. But watching the gathering of the newspersons, she left the place and went under a krishnachura tree on the DC Chattar. She did not go to the court either.

When the hearing ended around 11:00 am, Ferdousi Begum phoned the lawyers and inquired about Nusraat’s mental and physical health. She did not want to talk to the newspersons.

Wishing not to be named, a DMP high official told Prothom Alo that Nusraat Faria drank some water at the lock-up. Later, she was taken to a prison van that left the CMM court for Kashimpur women’s jail around 11:10 am.