Ilias Kanchan sues Shajahan Khan for defamation

Nirapad Sarak Chai chairman Ilias Kanchan filed a case with Dhaka’s joint-district judge court against former shipping minister Shajahan Khan on charge of defamation and demanding a compensation of Tk 100 crore.

Dhaka’s first joint district judge Utpal Bhattacharjee accepted the case and set Thursday for hearing on the admissibility of the case, the actor cum road safety campaigner Ilias Kanchan’s lawyer Rezaul Karim told New Age.

On December 8, 2019, the former minister and Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation executive president Shajahan Khan said in a programme at Rupganj in Narayanganj that Ilias Kanchan had embezzled crores for his road safety awareness movement and that the former minister also said he would reveal all his sources of income publicly which was published on newspapers on the following day, Rezaul said.

He said that his client on December 11, 2019 in a press conference had challenged Shajahan Khan to prove the allegation or withdraw his statement setting an ultimatum of 24-hours and that his client was compelled to file the defamation case as the former minister neither withdrew his comments nor produced any evidence in support of his statement so far.

The lawyer also said that his client also mentioned in the case that people were getting killed in road accidents every day, but there were almost no initiative to implement the new road safety act and reduce accidents.

The case statement said that Bangladesh Truck-Covered Van Malik-Sramik Oikya Parishad called an indefinite protest on November 18, 2019, the day when the Road Transport Act 2018 went into effect, and the protesters had burned the effigy of Ilias Kanchan by putting a garland of shoes for his campaign for road safety.

Ilias Kanchan lost his wife in a tragic road accident in 1993 and, since then, he has pledged to be a road safety activist for life and founded Nirapad Sharak Chai.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net