HC stays trial of DSA case against Rita Dewan

The High Court today stayed the trial proceedings of a case filed under the Digital Security Act against Baul singer Rita Dewan.

She was charged with making derogatory comments about religion and hurting people's sentiments during a performance in Tangail in December 2019.

The court also issued a rule asking the state to explain in four weeks why the proceedings of the case should not be scrapped.

The bench of Justice SM Kuddus Zaman and Justice Fahmida Quader issued the order and rule following a petition filed by Rita Dewan, who is now on bail, seeking to quash the trial proceedings of the case.

Rita has not made any derogatory comment about religion and has not hurt any sentiment and she has performed traditional "pala gaan" as a constitutional right to freedom of expression, her lawyer Abdullah Al Noman told The Daily Star.

Deputy Attorney General Kamrul Ahsan Khan opposed the petition during its hearing today.

According to the case documents, Rita was performing along with fellow artist Shah Alam Sarkar, where the topic being debated was "Living Beings versus The Greatest".

The event was held on the night of December 10, 2019, at the residence of one Shahjahan Kabir in Kalihati upazila in Tangail.

The other accused in the case Md Shahjahan and Md Iqbal Hossain had uploaded Rita's songs on YouTube, the case documents said.

Another video also surfaced where Rita Dewan, along with her two daughters, was shown apologising for the matter that day.

On February 2, 2020, Imrul Hasan, a lawyer, filed a case with Dhaka Cyber Tribunal against Rita under the Digital Security Act.

The tribunal on October 25 last year framed charges against Rita Dewan; Shahjahan and Iqbal in the case.