Journo sued for ‘hurting religious sentiment’

Anis Alamgir, former editor of Daily Manabkantha, was sued today for posting a “defamatory status on Facebook about his infatuation with Hindu Goddess of learning Saraswati” on January 22.

After the hearing, Dhaka Cyber Tribunal Judge Md Saiful Islam directed officer-in-charge of Dhanmondi Police Station to record the complaint as a First Information Report (FIR) against Anis Alamgir under Section 57 of the ICT Act.

The tribunal also directed police to probe the matter and submit a report to it.

Advocate Sushanta Kumar Basu filed the case against Alamgir for hurting religious sentiment.

Anis Alamgir, a Dhaka University part-time teacher, had posted a status on Facebook about Hindu goddess Saraswati on January 22 which hurt the religious sentiment of Hindus.

He later sought to clarify his comment in a long post the following day.

In his complaint, Sushanta said the status posted by Anis Alamgir on Facebook about the Goddess Saraswati hurt the religious sentiment of Hindus and Anis Alamgir should be brought under trial for committing such offences.

The complainant also appealed to the tribunal to issue an arrest warrant against him.