In both The Iliad and Odyssey, confronted by the question, "What is a King?" Homer seeks refuge in an ambiguous answer: "the best" of his people. This means a king is simply the best when it comes to speaking, advising, fighting, legislating, planning, and all the other tasks that are there. Thus, on the battlefield, a king has to be "the best" like Achilles or Diomedes. In council, he has to be "the best" like Odysseus or Nestor. And most importantly, in birth, he has to be of the stature of Agamemnon or Piram. This makes for a situation in which the King's birth, valour, vigour, wealth, and wisdom cannot be equal to that of his fellow human beings. In other words, at the same time, he is and is not like them.

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Before Trashing the Trash Culture…

Now when it comes to the mass-masala cinema of our subcontinent (or more specifically of our own country), the answer to the question, "What is a hero in a mass-masala film?" is essentially a Homeric one. It portrays a common man who is not common – or rather who is both common and special at the same time – and plays with our unconscious wish of being saved by a messianic figure. This reveals the paradox that "the Hero or the Saviour" will come from among the people, and yet they cannot be him. Thus, the saviour is always imprisoned in the realm of wishes and dreams and nothing more. Hence, here the film is both wish fulfilment and a castration of that wish.

In this mass-masala world of Heroes, the rules are set. It is told that such worlds tell the stories of common men, yet here the Hero is superior to his fellows and any common man can only be a background dancer or the joker that serves the court (and the story) of the Hero. The most amusing part is that the world which proclaims to reflect the life of the common people and which even more proudly proclaims to be made for consumption by such people has both prohibited the common people from telling their stories and also from playing their own part in their own stories.

But "the times, they are changing" and now the Alom who was prohibited from entering the sacred world of cinema has created his own micro-world. He knows that it is forbidden for him to swim in the sea. Thus, he has created his puddle. In doing so, Alom has successfully murdered "The Hero" (metaphorically, of course) and put himself in his position. And through this act, Hero Alom was truly born.

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What hurts the most? My ‘cultural’ sentiments, of course

Till now, this may sound like a story of triumph and victory. But there is a tragic side, too. 

There is indeed a sense of triumph in the "murder" and replacement of The Hero, but where the project becomes an upside-down one is when The Hero is replaced by a photocopy of himself. Hero Alom is just an imitation of "The Hero" and his world is only a replica of that forbidden world. Here the common man appears to be in triumph and yet appears to be lost. Thus, Hero Alom becomes an advocate of the sensibilities and values of that sacred world which he can never enter. The cinematic language that he uses is an imitation of that forbidden world's language. But somehow it appears as his language because it has replaced his real language long ago, like a cuckoo bird's egg. The values and the language of that sacred world have already shaped and reshaped the consumer (before the creator) Alom's world. The creator Hero Alom can only replicate that sacred world which is forbidden to him.

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The drama around Hero Alom exposes our culture of classism

Now the work of Hero Alom as a reproduction of that sacred world appears as something laughable and resides in the always-moving realm of aspiration and failure. It becomes a parody. But this parody is essentially an empty one. Someone like Fredric Jameson will identify Hero Alom's work as "pastiche," a kind of blank parody without that ulterior motive or political sting. In this light, Hero Alom's work may appear as a symptom. This means that its existence is symptomatic of something. And this something is the naturalised practice of not letting the common people tell their own stories. The forbidden world which Hero Alom cannot enter is essentially sold as the reflection of Alom's world. It is said to be Alom's world and yet he cannot enter it let alone tell his stories. He is only there for consumption, not for creation. He can only listen to the stories that are told as his stories. And such stories which are told by others gradually shape his worldview. Thus, when he takes the revolutionary opportunity of telling his own stories, it appears as something without a life of its own. 

But there is another side to this story; another possibility which we also should entertain. Hero Alom could be more than just a symptom. He could be a revolutionary. It is because Hero Alom's parody is not intentional that it is the most political and effective. The thing is that a joke is always neutralised with laughter, just as a parody is always neutralised with appreciation, and a song is forgotten with applause. But because Hero Alom's work does not presuppose any system, it becomes the most effective. Not having that political bite makes his work even more political. This is why such proclamations of, "Thou shall not make the elites cringe" are everywhere. Here his works are like a fishbone stuck in our throat, and we can neither get it out nor can we swallow it.

Anubhab Adnan is currently doing MA in English Literature and Language from the University of Rajshahi.

The Supreme Court on Sunday upheld a High Court directive that asked the agencies concerned to conduct inquiry into corruption allegations regarding government fund against some officials of Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF).

The Appellate Division of the SC also affirmed its chamber judge's order that on June 25 issued status quo on a part of the HC directive which directed them to probe the allegations regarding FIFA fund.

The apex court also asked the HC to dispose of the rule issued over this matter in three weeks, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star.

A full bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order after hearing of a leave to appeal petition filed by BFF's senior vice-president and finance committee chairman Abdus Salam Murshedy challenging the HC order.

The HC on May 15 ordered the ACC, Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), Bangladesh Bank, National Board of Revenue (NBR) and Youth and Sports ministry to conduct inquiry into the allegations of corruption, money laundering and embezzlement allegedly raised against the officials concerned of BFF and to submit the probe reports before it in four months.

The HC also issued a rule asking the respondents to explain why their inaction to conduct the inquiry into these allegations should not be declared illegal.

The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat Lizu issued the order and rule following a writ petition filed seeking its directive on the ACC to probe the corruption allegation.

With so much negative news flooding the media in recent times, a piece of good news has provided some warmth. Bangladesh's High Court has asked the authorities of a public university to allow pregnant and married female students to remain in the dormitories for the time being. The discriminatory nature of such a restriction has been highlighted and the university has been asked why its recent notice requiring such students to leave the residential hall should not be cancelled or withdrawn.

While the news was widely welcomed, very few realise that this move has come after a series of information requests under the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2009 of Bangladesh were submitted by staff members of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) to 38 public universities between December 2022 and July 2023. They were reacting to news reports published in national dailies alleging that pregnant students were not being allowed to stay in the residential halls of Dhaka University.

The reports referred to a policy relating to the allocation of seats in five residential halls of Dhaka University which read as follows: "If any female student is married, she must inform the authorities immediately, otherwise her seat will be cancelled due to violation of rules. Only in special cases married students will be given the opportunity to study from the hall in the current session. If she is a pregnant student, she cannot stay at the hall anymore."

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The information commission is a prime mover of the RTI Act

The RTI requests sought to discover what actually happens when this policy is implemented and what the specific university guidelines are for male and female students. Based on a response from Jagannath University, BLAST filed a public interest litigation (PIL) suit on October 30, 2023 in the High Court, challenging the gender-discriminatory nature of the notice—issued on September 25 by the university, under an internal Rule (from the 2021 Rules)—requiring pregnant and married female students to leave a residential hall.

BLAST, through its RTI requests, queried whether there were specific policies for male and female students living in residential halls; whether the policies were the same for both male and female students; whether there were specific policies for married and pregnant female students; and whether there were specific policies for married male students.

The responses received indicated that most of the authorities did not have separate policies for male and female students and no specific policies for married and pregnant female students. A few indicated strict time limits for female students returning to the halls each night; five universities barred married and pregnant female students from residing in the halls at all; and six restricted the categories of visitors seeking to meet a female student to include only her parents, guardians, siblings, and husband.

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We need an independent and neutral Information Commission

In response to BLAST's PIL, Justices Naima Haider and Kazi Zinat Hoque of a Division Bench of the High Court, passed a rule nisi on Jagannath University and its officials on October 31, asking them why they should not be directed to cancel or withdraw the notice and the 2021 Rule. The Court's Rule was made returnable by February 7, 2024. It included an interim order staying the operation of the notice till that date.

The Court further directed the Ministry of Education and the University Grants Commission (UGC) to submit a report within February 7, 2024 on rules and regulations based on sex, marital status, or health in Bangladeshi universities, and the measures proposed to ensure gender inclusive policies for all students.

This development augurs well for the RTI regime in the country and testifies to the readiness of our judiciary to safeguard basic rights of our citizens. It is also indicative of the critical role our courts can play in advancing the hallowed objectives of the RTI Act. While awaiting a denouement of the case, we would like to highlight two important elements emanating from the case so far: 1) the efficacy of the RTI mechanism's use by institutions like BLAST, rather than by individuals, to sidestep the negative reactions of many public officials towards individual applicants, including harassment and threats of retribution, and 2) the readiness of our Courts to accept information derived through the RTI mechanism as admissible evidence.

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Information Commission’s key role in ensuring right to information

On the first point, it has been a constant complaint of this column that not many RTI applications originate from socially conscious and responsible citizens of the country, who fear the negative, sometimes threatening, attitude of public officials towards applicants seeking "bothersome" information. We posit that one way to overcome such fear would be for citizen groups, rather than individuals alone, to use the law in matters of public interest. The requests to the universities received positive responses largely because they came from a reputed NGO and not from individuals. There is clearly a lesson to learn here.

On the second point, it is heartening that our High Court took cognisance of evidence obtained through the RTI Act in issuing its Rule, as has happened in similar situations in the past. This is encouraging, as courts in neighbouring India are split on whether RTI responses are acceptable as evidence, and if so, how they should be presented and whether they should be considered as secondary or substantive evidence. Some courts have ruled that RTI responses may be read directly in court, others have ruled that they are inadmissible. There is thus a need to establish uniform norms of admission in this regard. Hopefully, our courts will take the lead, and the example established by BLAST in making use of RTI to address public interest issues will be emulated by other NGOs and civil society organisations of the country.

Dr Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz are chairman and assistant director (RTI), respectively, at Research Initiatives, Bangladesh (RIB). Email: rib@citech-bd.com

Views expressed in this article are the author's own.

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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.

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Our reality versus government's narrative

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.

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Suspend use of DSA immediately: UN rights chief

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.