“Will the state restore my honour?” Pori Moni speaks after 4 years

Actress Pori Moni has issued a lengthy statement regarding her arrest by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) four years ago. She claimed that she was arrested on 4 August 2021 “completely unlawfully” and “to serve the interests of a particular group.”

She also said that the incident severely damaged her personal, social and professional life, and questioned whether the state could ever restore the honour, mental peace and years she had lost.

In a detailed Facebook post published at 12:20 am on Friday, Pori Moni thanked former RAB intelligence chief Lieutenant Colonel Khairul Islam for recently acknowledging certain facts during an online talk show.

According to her, the disclosure revealed that after a lengthy operation at her Banani residence, she had been wrongfully arrested on the instructions of then RAB Director General and former Inspector General of Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.

Pori Moni wrote, “A chapter of my life deeply wounded me as an artist, as a woman, and as a human being. Because of that incident, my personal, social and professional life, everything, was severely affected.”

She added, “Later, I was shown arrested in false and fabricated cases and kept in prison for 28 consecutive days. No one in this world except Allah and myself can fully understand how much that experience damaged and devastated my life.”

According to her statement, she has lived as a victim of that incident ever since her arrest. She said, “The way I was humiliated and the way my honour, morality and character were questioned will remain a painful chapter in the history of Bangladesh.”

The actress also addressed several questions to the state: “Can those days of my life be returned? Can I ever regain the life, honour and mental peace that I lost? Will the state take responsibility for the false, misleading and controversial perceptions that were created about me in people’s minds?”

However, she said she did not seek revenge. “I do not want to belittle or insult anyone. I only want to ensure that no innocent person becomes a victim of such injustice in the future.”

At the end of her statement, she thanked her family, friends, colleagues, journalists and admirers who had stood by her during difficult times.

She wrote, “I do not want to carry the wounds of the past. I want to move forward. I want to fly freely like a fairy in the open sky. I want to live the rest of my life with my work, my child, my family and the love of my audience.”

On 4 August 2021, RAB arrested Pori Moni during a raid on her Banani residence. Subsequently,Mohammad Mujibur Rahman, an officer ofRAB-1, filed a case against her under the Narcotics Control Act.

The case alleged that investigators recovered foreign liquor, four grams of ice (crystal methamphetamine) and one LSD blotter from her residence. The case is currently at the witness testimony stage in the Special Judge Court-10 in Dhaka.

On 8 June 2021, Pori Moni filed a case against businessman Nasir Uddin Mahmud and five others, accusing them of attempted rape and attempted murder at the Dhaka Boat Club in Savar.

After completing the investigation, police submitted a charge sheet on 6 September 2022 against Nasir and two others.

The Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-9 in Dhaka later framed charges against the three accused, and the case remains at the witness testimony stage.

In a separate development arising from the same incident, Nasir Uddin Mahmud filed a complaint case against Pori Moni on 18 July 2022, accusing her of assault and attempted murder.

He alleged that when the club refused to provide alcohol free of charge, she verbally abused him and threw a glass at him. That case is also currently under trial.