Order on cartoonist Kishore’s bail plea 3 March

The High Court (HC) today set 3 March for passing its order on a plea for the bail of cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore in a case lodged under Digital Security Act (DSA), reports BSS.

A High Court division virtual bench comprising Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the order today.

Lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua took part in the hearing for the petition, while deputy attorney general Sarwar Hossain Bappi stood for the state.

Earlier on 28 February, a lower court concerned had scrapped a plea of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes (CTTC) unit of the police to take Kishore in remand in the case.

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) filed the case against 11 people on 5 May, 2020, on charges of spreading anti-state falsehood to tarnish the image of Bangladesh and create confusion from a Facebook page.

The 11 accused in the case are Ahmed Kabir Kishore, Rashtrachinta coordinator Didarul Bhuiyan, Minhaj Mannan, Tasnim Khalil, Sahed Alam, Asif Mohiuddin, Zulkarnain Shayer Khan alias Sami, Ashik Imran, Swapan Wahid, Philip Shumakher and writer Mushtak Ahmed, who died in jail recently.

Earlier on 13 January, police filed the charge-sheet against cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, Rashtrachinta coordinator Didarul Bhuiyan and writer Mushtak Ahmed.

Police, however, excluded names of eight accused Minhaj Mannan, Tasnim
Khalil, Sahed Alam, Asif Mohiuddin, Sami, Ashik Imran, Swapan Wahid and
Philip Shumakher from the charge-sheet, saying the allegations brought
against them have not been proved.

On 10 February, Bangladesh Cyber Tribunal had ordered CTTC to further
investigate the case and submit the report.

The court had come up with the order, allowing a prosecution plea to
further investigate the case. The prosecution on 9 February also filed naraji
(no confidence) petition against the charge-sheet for dropping names of eight accused.