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.
Related News
Body:
The BNP high command has directed the party candidates of Sunday's polls to collect centre-wise results and information on “election anomalies” by today.
The party will compile all the data and submit them to the Election Commission soon, its Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told The Daily Star yesterday.
On Monday night, the Jatiya Oikyafront leaders decided to submit a memorandum to the EC on December 3 compiling information on all “polls irregularities”.
Fakhrul will hold a meeting with the candidates at the BNP chairperson's Gulshan office tomorrow morning, said Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, senior joint secretary general of the party.
A letter was sent to each of the candidates yesterday asking them to provide eight types of information, including on election anomalies, arrests and killings of BNP men, to the party, he said.
The ruling Awami League secured a landslide victory in Sunday's polls. The Oikyafront, led by the BNP and several other parties, rejected the result and demand a reelection.
Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda ruled out the demand saying there was no scope for holding any fresh election.
The BNP high command would prepare a summary report and brief foreign diplomats stationed in Dhaka following the compilation of data on the centre-wise results and alleged polls anomalies, said a party source.
The high command was observing the overall situation and the reaction of the international community over the election.
Asked about the party's next course of action, a senior leader said they would not do anything hurriedly.
“We will take some time as the party leaders and activists are devastated by government repression. We will certainly devise our next course of action once we turn around,” BNP Standing Committee member Moudud Ahmed said.
The BNP high-ups have already decided that MPs elected from the party would not take oath as they have rejected the results alleging various polls irregularities, including ballot-stuffing and driving away of their polling agents.
A senior leader from the Oikyafront wishing anonymity said the main challenge for the BNP was to keep the unity within the combine and the 20-party alliance intact.
The Oikyafront nominated candidates in 299 constituencies, only seven of them won.
Body:
The Daily Star's Sohel Parvez and Jahurul Islam Sojol with the help of a few others have made an effort to analyse the affidavits submitted by the candidates, running in the 11th parliamentary polls, to the Election Commission. Today we are publishing the data of gross wealth of those who were made ministers, state ministers and deputy ministers (excluding three technocrat ministers). The gross wealth of them and their spouses and other dependents was calculated based on the value of their movable and immovable properties mentioned in the affidavits.
Body:
The High Court today (August 31, 2022) cleared the way for a lower court concerned to resume the trial proceedings of a sensational case filed for killing four officials of Bangladesh Television (BTV) during the mass upsurge in 1975.
The four officials, who were killed in Dhaka's Rampura were the then deputy general director (programme) of BTV Monirul Alam, its administrative officer AFM Siddique, chief accountant Akmal Khan and photographer Firoz Kaiyum Chowdhury.
A year after the killings, three of their skeletons were recovered from Motijheel, but Monirul's corpse was never discovered. The remains were laid to rest in the Azimpur graveyard. The four kidnapping cases that the families had filed eventually turned into a murder case.
Today, the HC lifted the stay order issued on April 25, 2010, on the trial proceedings of the case.
The bench of Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique and Justice Md Mahmud Hassan Talukder lifted the stay order after rejecting a petition filed by Altaf Hossain, an accused in the murder case, in 2005 seeking cancellation of the trial proceedings.
Following today's HC order, the trial proceedings against five accused will run at the lower court as one accused has already died and proceedings against the other three accused have been scrapped by the HC earlier, Deputy Attorney General Samira Tarannum Rabyea told The Daily Star.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin appeared for the state while lawyers Md Ozi Ullah, Md Harun Ur Rashid and Sheikh Rezaul Haque stood for accused petitioner Altaf Hossain.
Following the assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members on August 15, 1975, army personnel were reportedly stationed at radio and TV stations in Dhaka.
Third and fourth-grade BTV staff members were agitating at the time to get their demands met, but the authorities were rejecting them.
The honorary Lt Altaf Hossain of the army, stationed at the TV station in Rampura, had a meeting with the leaders of the protesting staff and agreed to help them in getting their demands met.
On November 6, 1975, Altaf and the other leaders decided to confine important officials to press for their demands.
On the morning of November 7 of that year, Altaf, BTV staff members Abul Quashem Bagoja, Abul Awal Sarkar, Lutfar Rahman Talukder, Syed Ainul Kabir, Ainuzzaman, and Md Shahjahan Miaji detained Monirul Alam, Akmal Hossain, and AB Siddique at the TV entrance and killed them.
Body:
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.
Body:
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.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. 
