Nasirnagar mayhem: No evidence, yet Rasraj faces charges

In their forensic report, police found no evidence of Rasraj's involvement in spreading a photograph that led to a mayhem in Brahmanbaria's Nasirnagar in October 2016.

Forensic experts conducted tests on the mobile phone, memory card and Facebook profile of Rasraj Das and did not find any trace of the photograph.

Rasraj, a local fisherman, was accused in a case filed under the controversial Digital Security Act two years after the attack.

According to the complaint, Rasraj posted a photograph on his Facebook profile that hurt religious sentiments. Some 200 religious bigots attacked at least 15 temples and vandalised and looted about 100 Hindu houses at several neighbourhoods in Nasirnagar and Sadar upazilas of the district.

On December 29, 2021, Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) pressed charges against Rasraj as the principal accused and one Jahangir Alam in the DSA case.

Before his implication in the DSA case, Rasraj was accused in another case filed under Section 57(2) of the Information and Communication Technology Act 2006 which has been repealed amid widespread criticisms.

Talking to The Daily Star, Rasraj's lawyer Nasir Miah said Mohammad Iqbal Hossain, inspector of the Detective Branch of police in Brahmanbaria, submitted the charge sheet on December 29, 2021.

The next day, Brahmanbaria chief judicial magistrate sent the case to Chattogram Cyber Tribunal for trial, he added.

Contacted, Inspector Iqbal said the forensic department found evidence that Rasraj deleted the photograph from his Facebook.

Supreme Court lawyer ZI Khan Panna opined that the pressing of chargesheet against Rasraj under the DSA was a "heinous criminal act" on the part of law enforcement agencies.

Rasraj is an innocent fisherman who cannot even use Facebook, he said, adding that the charge sheet submission after two years under the DSA was unlawful.

Panna, a trustee member of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust and a former chairperson of Ain O Salish Kendra, said, "I will appear before the Chattogram court with a group of lawyers from Dhaka on behalf of Rasraj.

"We will defend him on the next hearing of the case."

Chattogram Cyber Tribunal lawyer Bhulon Bhowmik said the tribunal was yet to register the case and fix the date for its hearing.

The PBI has submitted the charge sheet of the case after six investigators looked into the allegation.

Rasraj, who was arrested in connection with the attack in 2017, is now on bail in the DSA case.