Tarique Rahman cleared of sedition charges in Jashore

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) acting chairperson Tarique Rahman has been acquitted in a sedition case filed in Jashore.

District and Sessions Judge Sheikh Nazmul Alam passed the verdict today, Monday, Jashore Public Prosecutor (PP) Syed Saberul Haque Sabu said.

Court sources said Jashore district Awami League organising secretary and Union Parishad chairman SM Afzal Hossain, as the plaintiff, filed the sedition case against Tarique Rahman in the court of senior judicial magistrate in Jashore on 9 November 2014.

He claimed in the case that Tarique Rahman had insulted Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from London.

Syed Saberul Haque Sabu stated that the investigation officer of the case, Sheikh Gani Mia, who was a police inspector (investigation) at Jashore Kotwali police station at that time, submitted the charge sheet to the court on 21 June 2015.

Since the case lacked merit, he said, the government lawyers had recently made a plea to the court to acquit Tarique Rahman.

In light of this, the court cleared Tarique Rahman after reviewing the evidence, he added.