Nusrat’s 7-year ordeal: Imprisoned while pregnant, mentally harassed, dismissed from job for sharing a Facebook post

For sharing a single Facebook post, Nusrat Jahan Sonia, an assistant teacher at South Tiakhali (1) Government Primary School in Kalapara, Patuakhali, was forced to spend 14 days in jail while she was seven months pregnant. Following her suspension from service, she endured a prolonged struggle lasting seven years, four months and 23 days.

The child she was carrying in her womb at the time is now over seven years old. As the child grows older, he is beginning to understand what happened to his mother while he was still unborn. He asks her why she had to go to prison while carrying him.

Demanding safer roads, students across the country staged protests from 29 July to 8 August 2018. On 3 August, Nusrat shared a Facebook post written by someone else. As a result, she was detained on the night of 4 August and taken to Kalapara police station. The following day, a case was filed against her under Section 57(2) of the Information and Communication Technology Act.

On 6 August, she was suspended from her job through a letter signed by the then district primary education officer, Md Shahidul Islam.

After seven years, four months and 23 days, Nusrat was finally discharged from the case. On 28 December last year, the district primary education officer, Umme Sahara Laizu, issued a letter withdrawing the suspension order.

The letter stated that the suspension period would be counted as service time and that she would receive all outstanding salary and allowances for that period.

Nusrat rejoined her post on 29 December last year. She is currently running from office to office to reactivate her salary bank account and complete other formalities.

At the time of her arrest, police seized two mobile phones belonging to her and her husband, Anwar Hossain, as well as a laptop. She will now also have to apply for the return of these items.

The case against Nusrat alleged that, through the Facebook post, she had advised students to keep their identity cards with them, monitor police movements, and carry chilli powder or brick chips in their bags for self-defence.

Speaking to Prothom Alo by phone on 5 January, Nusrat said, “Out of sheer emotion, I shared someone else’s advisory post suggesting what protesting students might do. For that ‘crime’, I was made to sit at the police station for 12 hours while carrying my seven-month-old unborn child. I was not allowed to meet anyone. My hands and feet swelled up. I felt as though I were a hardened criminal.”

Nusrat’s husband, Anwar Hossain, is a businessman who runs a pharmacy. At the time of her arrest, their elder son was six years old; he is now just over 13.

As she recounted her long struggle, Nusrat became visibly exhausted. She said that Patuakhali jail is about 50 kilometres from Kalapara. She was being taken there when, at the request of her father and husband, a microbus was arranged with official permission. Seven or eight police officers accompanied her in the vehicle. Due to the crowding, seating was cramped, and throughout the journey the officers laughed and joked.

Patuakhali is a familiar town to Nusrat. Sitting by the window, she noticed that the microbus was not heading towards the jail but taking a different route.

When she asked why, the police said they needed to meet someone. The vehicle stopped in front of the superintendent of police’s (SP) office. The then SP came out, named various militant groups and asked whether she was a member of any of them.

Nusrat said she had never even heard of those names. Nevertheless, the SP attempted to extract a confession from her and questioned why she had shared writings critical of the government.

She recalled, “My father and husband were waiting at the jail gate in another vehicle, but they had no idea where I was. When I finally arrived, the police told my father that I had travelled very comfortably, so he should treat them to a meal at Mallika Hotel. My father had no choice but to take them there. Can you imagine how inhuman the police must be to behave like that!”

Although she did not suffer physical torture in prison, Nusrat endured severe mental anguish and social humiliation. As a result, she confined herself indoors for nearly two years. Whenever she went outside, people would ask questions such as: “Why did you post something like that on Facebook? You must have been secretly involved in some crime,” or “It looks like you were badly beaten in jail.”

She said, “In prison, I had to sleep on the floor with a thin blanket underneath and another over my head. With such a large belly (due to pregnancy), I couldn’t get up on my own after lying down. In the morning, they gave flatbread and molasses. Whatever food was served at lunchtime had to be eaten again at night. In the intense heat, the food would spoil, so I often couldn’t eat in the evening.”

Nusrat added that, despite being seven months pregnant, state lawyers opposed her bail, alleging that she had sought bail using false documents. After she was granted bail, she was required to attend hearings in Dhaka. During those trips, she would stay at the home of her cousin, journalist JI Mamun, if he was in the country. If he was abroad, she had to stay in hotels with her husband and two children.

After being released from jail, Nusrat gave birth to her son by caesarean section on 23 November. She said the child is healthy.

“I had to live like a criminal,” Nusrat said. “Had Sheikh Hasina not fled on 5 August 2024 and had there not been a change of government, this might never have been possible. My parents have said the same. My husband, however, never uttered a word of complaint—not even for a day. He kept trying to help me return to a normal life.”

Nusrat’s cousin JI Mamun shared a Facebook post recounting her ordeal. He wrote that, weighed down by a criminal case, the horrors of imprisonment during pregnancy, repeated court appearances with two young children, suspension from service and unemployment, Nusrat had fallen into a state of extreme despair and uncertainty.

Mamun also mentioned that one night, while Nusrat was in prison, her father received a phone call. The caller introduced himself as a physician from Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital in Barishal and claimed that Nusrat had fallen seriously ill and had been admitted to hospital. He demanded that Tk 250,000 to Tk 300,000 be sent via bKash. Later enquiries revealed that no such incident had occurred, and Nusrat’s father narrowly escaped being defrauded.

From the outset, Nusrat’s parents, husband and entire family stood by her. She received free legal assistance from lawyers of the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST).

The case against her was filed at the Kalapara chief judicial magistrate’s court under Section 57(2) of the ICT Act, 2006 (amended in 2013), which prescribes a prison sentence of seven to fourteen years for publishing false or defamatory information. The case was initially heard in Dhaka before being transferred to the Barishal Cyber Tribunal.

On 22 May last year, the High Court quashed the proceedings and discharged Nusrat from the case.

In its observations, the court noted that when police submitted the charge sheet in 2019, Section 57 of the ICT Act had already been repealed and replaced by the Digital Security Act, 2018. As the earlier law was no longer applicable, the submission of the charge sheet nearly two months later amounted to an abuse of the law. The court therefore ordered the complete dismissal of the pending case at the Cyber Tribunal.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, BLAST’s honorary executive director Sara Hossain said that Nusrat had finally been discharged from a baseless case and that what had happened to her was profoundly unjust. Had there not been a change of government, she added, Nusrat might not have obtained relief so easily.

Sara Hossain further said that even though the government had changed, the state still exists, and the state must compensate Nusrat. There must be an investigation into why such unlawful actions occurred, who was responsible, and arrangements must be made for the perpetrators to apologise.

Reflecting on her ordeal, Nusrat said, “For all these years, I lived almost entirely in darkness. I had no normal life. Many people in my area were too afraid to even speak to me. I never imagined that I would be able to return to a normal life again.”