Baul singer Shariat Sarkar denied bail

A Tangail court today rejected a bail petition of Baul singer Shariat Sarkar in a case filed under the Digital Security Act for “hurting religious sentiment”.

Judge Mohammad Shawkat Ali Chowdhury of District and Sessions Judge’s Court in Tangail passed the order after hearing the petition filed by Shariat in the afternoon, said Tanvir Ahmed, court inspector in Tangail.

During the hearing, Anisur Rahman Humayun, lawyer of Sariat, prayed to the court seeking his bail while Tangail’s Public Prosecutor S Akbar Khan opposed his bail prayer. 

On January 11, police arrested the 40-year-old folk singer from Mymensingh’s Bhaluka upazila, following a case filed against him.

Mohammad Faridul Islam, an imam of a Tangail mosque, filed the case with Mirzapur Police Station on January 9, accusing Shariat of making comments during a performance that hurt his “religious sentiment”.

Immediately after the arrest, police produced him before a judicial magistrate’s court in Tangail with a 10-day remand prayer. The court of Senior Judicial Magistrate Akramul Islam placed him on a 3-day remand.

Someone filmed Shariat’s comments and showed it to people in the area causing an outrage, according to police.