The High Court yesterday ordered the returning officer of Kishoreganj-2 constituency to receive and scrutinise the nomination paper of Tarek Mohammad Shahidul Islam, a National People's Party (NPP) nominated aspirant, in the next 24 hours.
The bench of Justice Tariq ul Hakim and Justice Md Shohrowardi passed the order after hearing a writ petition filed by Tarek, seeking necessary orders so that he can contest the 11th national election slated for December 30.
Citing the writ petition, Deputy Attorney General Amatul Karim Swapna said Tarek went to submit his nomination paper on November 28. The returning officer refused to accept it citing that the NPP leader was late for submission.
The government will move a petition before the apex court, seeking stay on the HC order, the DAG said.
Barrister Md Mutaher Hossain appeared for Tarek Mohammad.
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Dhaka South City Corporation mayor Sayeed Khokon today said all the temporary election camps set up during the 11th national polls will be removed within the quickest possible time.
The Mayor said this while inaugurating removal work of makeshift election camps at Segunbagicha in the city on Saturday.
Sayeed Khokon said that earlier instruction was given to remove all election-related posters, banners, and other campaign materials within next 48 hours. Most of them were removed by this time while some are still visible in differed areas of the city, he said.
"If you see any poster, banner or festoon on flyover or in any other place then you will inform us to keep the city clean," Khokon said.
"We want to remove all the temporary election camps so that people can walk freely on pavements and we can keep our city clean," he added.
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The High Court today (August 14, 2022) issued an injunction restraining the government from constructing houses under the Ashrayan Project at a historical playground in Netrokona's Kendua upazila for the next three months.
In response to a writ petition, the court also issued a rule asking the officials concerned to explain why the action of the deputy commissioner of Netrokona to change the class of the playground at Balaishimul mouza for constructing houses under the Ashrayan Project should not be declared illegal.
In the rule, the court asked them to show causes why they should not be ordered to protect and preserve the Balaishimul playground.
At the same time, the HC ordered the DC of Netrokona to prepare a report on this issue and submit it before this court in 60 days.
The HC bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo issued the order and rule following a writ petition filed by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela) Netrokona in this regard.
During the hearing, Deputy Attorney General Arobinda Kumar Roy vehemently opposed the writ petition saying that among the proposed 36 houses, only 12 will be constructed in the field.
The court then said changing the class of the field while a case is pending with a lower court on this issue is abuse of power.
Bela chief Syeda Rizwana Hasan told The Daily Star that the district administration of Netrokona has illegally and arbitrarily initiated to construct houses under the Ashrayan Project by changing the class of 0.46 acres of land of the playground out of total 1.80 acres, despite the locals repeatedly asking them not to.
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A female ready-made garment worker was allegedly raped at Rupganj in Narayanganj early Friday.
The 22-year-old was raped in Khadun area of the upazila while returning home from work, said Muhammad Abdul Huq, officer-in-charge of Rupganj Police Station.
The victim lodged a case with Rupganj Police Station against three -- Sumon, 23, Nahid, 22, and Hasin, 22, -- on Friday, he added.
Quoting the case statement, the OC also said one of the three accused raped the victim. Two others assisted.
Hearing her scream, locals rescued the victim and sent her to home.
Police sent the woman to Narayanganj General Hospital for tests and were trying to arrest the accused.
Earlier on Wednesday evening, police arrested a man for allegedly raping a six-year-old indigenous girl at Mithapukur upazila in Rangpur.
The arrestee is Rubel Tirki, 30, of Parbati-Krishnapur village in the upazila.
Rubel allegedly took the girl, a grade one student, to a sugarcane field offering her sugarcane and raped her, said police.
Hearing her scream, locals rescued the victim and took her to Pirganj Upazila Health Complex. Rubel escape, police added.
Later in the day, locals held the accused and handed him over to the police.
A case was filed in this connection with Mithapukur Police Station on Thursday afternoon. Police sent him to jail on the same day after placing him before court, said Zafar Ullah, officer-in-charge of the police station.
Meanwhile, detectives in Noakhali yesterday arrested a man in connection with a case filed over the gang-rape of a woman in Subarnachar upazila on December 31.
The arrestee is Henju Majhi, 29, said Zakir Hossain, inspector of Detective Branch in the district.
On information, a team of DB police conducted a drive in Cumilla's Daudkandi upazila and arrested Henju in the morning, said Zakir, also the investigation officer of the case.
He had been hiding since the incident, he said.
With Henju, 11 people have been arrested over the gang-rape.
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The High Court yesterday said the Prothom Alo has the right to get justice because it had corrected the mistake it made in an online report on March 26.
"Everybody has the right to get protection of law. The complainant could have gone to Bangladesh Press Council if he was aggrieved by the report.
"As far as we know, Prothom Alo publishes objective reports. They have a slogan -- in search of truth. They are a pioneer in news publishing. But how will it work if you publish this kind of news?" asked the court referring to the March 26 report.
The bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Aminul Islam made the observations while hearing a petition filed by Prothom Alo Editor and Publisher Matiur Rahman seeking bail in a case filed under the Digital Security Act.
The bench granted him anticipatory bail for six weeks and asked him to show up at the metropolitan sessions judge's court in Dhaka after six weeks and seek fresh bail.
The courtroom was packed with lawyers and journalists.
Matiur appeared virtually before the bench from the Supreme Court premises during the hearing.
Lawyers Fida M Kamal, ZI Khan Panna, Imtiaz Mahmood, Syeda Rizwana Hasan and Prashanta Kumar Karmoker appeared for Matiur while Additional Attorney General Mohammad Mehedi Hassan Chowdhury and Deputy Attorney General Sujit Chatterjee Bappi opposed the bail petition.
Matiur, Prothom Alo staff reporter Shamsuzzaman Shams, an unnamed photographer, and unnamed others were sued over a report published on March 26, the Independence Day.
As far as we know, Prothom Alo publishes objective reports. They have a slogan -- in search of truth. They are a pioneer in news publishing. But how will it work if you publish this kind of news?
— A High Court bench while hearing the Prothom Alo editor's petition for bail.
While posting the said report written by Shams on social media, Prothom Alo made a "card" with a quote of a labourer named Zakir Hossain. Though the card contained Zakir's quote, it had the photo of an adolescent boy taken from behind.
It was noticed within 17 minutes, and the card was removed. Besides, corrections were made to the report and the news was again published online mentioning the corrections.
Around 4:00am on March 29, Shams was picked up from his home in Savar by plainclothes men claiming to be CID officers. His whereabouts were unknown until he was taken to a Dhaka court around 30 hours later. The court later sent him to jail.
At yesterday's hearing, Fida M Kamal told the court that a lawyer filed the case against Matiur and several others under sections 25, 31 and 35 of the DSA. But there is no element of offences in the report as per these sections.
The sections have been abused through filing of the case, he said, adding that the case was filed in order to harass the Prothom Alo editor and its journalists. A reporter of Ekattor TV has complicated matters by making a report regarding the Prothom Alo report.
The complainant, Abdul Malek Mashiur Malek, said in the case that he remembered the photo of a woman named Basanti in a net published in 1974, Fida told the court.
He then asked how the complainant, who is now 61, could remember the picture after so many years.
Mashiur wrote in the complaint that in 1974, a mentally challenged woman named Basanti was made to wear a net, and a photo of the woman in that state was published in a newspaper spreading panic over famine.
Fida said the mistake, made by Prothom Alo, was noticed within 17 minutes, and corrections were made.
"How did the Prothom Alo report damage the spirit of independence?" he asked.
Presenting his arguments, ZI Khan Panna said Matiur is a freedom fighter, a progressive man, and a former member of the Communist Party, who was also the editor of an esteemed weekly named Ekota.
Justice Mustafa Zaman said, "We used to read the Ekota."
Additional AG Mehedi Hassan Chowdhury then argued that Prothom Alo published the false report with a quote of a child who was given Tk 10 to give the quote on Independence Day.
Another journalist of Ekattor TV discovered the falsehood of Prothom Alo, he said, adding that the Prothom Alo report carried a questionable message.
DAG Sujit Chatterjee told the court that editors like Matiur Rahman, Mahfuz Anam, and Anwar Hossain Manju are institutions in their own right.
"I also read Prothom Alo which is a non-communal newspaper. This is a pro-independence daily.
"But Prothom Alo Editor Matiur Rahman has picked the Independence Day to publish such an irresponsible report in order to tarnish the image of the state and the government and to destabilise the country when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is taking the nation forward amid the fallout from Ukraine war," he said.
Prothom Alo has admitted its offence, he said, adding that the newspaper is used as a shield.
At one stage of the hearing, the HC bench said his (Matiur) own image was damaged as well.
Additional AG Mehedi Hassan Chowdhury told the court that the government has not brought any allegation against Prothom Alo.
Making a mistake and then withdrawing the false report is like returning the money after picking someone's pocket, Mehedi said.
Justice Mustafa Zaman then told him that Prothom Alo withdrew the report after noticing the mistake.
Contacted, Additional AG Mehedi told The Daily Star that he is yet to get any instructions from the government to move an appeal before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against the HC order of bail.
Matiur's lawyer ZI Khan Panna told reporters that a lawyer has filed the case against his client after being personally aggrieved, but the state's additional attorney general and deputy attorney general appeared for the complainant, which is unlawful.
Earlier in the day, another HC bench led by Justice SM Kuddus Zaman refused to hear the bail petition.
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The attorney general's office will submit relevant documents regarding the death of Sultana Jasmine in Rab custody, including the medical certificate on the cause of her death, before the High Court at 2:00pm today.
The medical certificate issued by Rajshahi Medical College Hospital mentioned "irreversible Cardio-respiratory failure due to intra-cerebral haemorrhage" as the cause of her death, a source at the AG office said.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin told The Daily Star, "I don't know what has been mentioned in the report as the cause of death of Sultana Jasmine. We will submit the relevant papers to the High Court at 2:00pm."
Earlier in the day, the attorney general told the HC bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Ahmed Sohel that his office received documents from the authorities concerned of the government about Sultana.
On Monday, the bench expressed grave concern and anger as the state has not filed any case after the death of Sultana Jasmine in custody of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Naogaon.
The HC bench also raised some questions about the death of Sultana Jasmine of Naogaon, who died in Rab custody on March 24.
Sultana Jasmine, a union-level land employee in Naogaon who died in the custody of Rapid Action Battalion on Friday, had suffered a head injury along with brain haemorrhages but what caused it all remains unexplained.
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