Ex-OC of Sonagazi sued under ICT act [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

Ex-OC of Sonagazi sued under ICT act

Local April 16, 2019

Former officer-in-charge of Sonagazi police station Moazzem Hossain was charged with the crime of spreading Feni madrassah girl Nusrat Jahan Rafi’s video statement on youtube under Digital Security Act.
A Supreme Court lawyer on Monday lodged the case with the Cyber Tribunal against the OC who was withdrawn from his post following Nusrat’s death due to his noncooperation with the victim’s family.
The OC recorded the video in his chamber before Nusrat was set ablaze, which led to her death on April 10.
Meanwhile, the two accused in the arson case gave statements confessing to their direct involvement in the crime before a court in the district on Monday for hours.
Another court in Feni on Monday morning placed another accused Maksud Alam, a ward councillor of Sonagazi Municipality and a local leader of Awami League, on a five-day remand for interrogation in police custody.
Following the statements by the two accused, police arrested Md Shamim, an Alim examinee, son of Shafiullah of Tolatoli village, Sonagazi, said Police Bureau of Investigation, or PBI, investigation officer Md Shah Alam.
Shamim’s arrest took the number of arrestees to 14.
Though he was not named in the case filed by Nusrat’s brother following the arson attack on his sister, he is one of the main suspects who set Nusrat ablaze, said Alam.
Meanwhile, different organisations in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country staged demonstration demanding justice for Nusrat and capital punishment for the perpetrators.
Nusrat was an Alim examinee of Sonagazi Islamia Senior Fazil Madrasa and came to the examination hall to sit for her Arabic first paper examination on April 6 morning when she faced the arson attack as she refused to withdraw her allegation against her abuser Siraj-ud-Doula, the principal of the madrassah.
She struggled for her life in the next three days and finally succumbed to her injuries at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital on April 10.
On Monday afternoon, the Cyber Tribunal in Dhaka directed the PBI chief to hold an inquiry into the allegation that former Sonagazi police station’s officer-in-charge Moazzem Hossain committed offences under the Digital Security Act by illegally recording video statements of sexually harassed Madrassa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi and spreading her private speeches on youtube.
The tribunal judge Mohammad Ashsams Joglul Hossain also ordered the PBI chief to submit the probe report by April 30.
The tribunal issued the directive after recording a complaint petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Syed Sayedul Haque Suman against the OC.
The tribunal also heard Nusrat’s video statements at his chamber.
Petitioner prayed for an order to arrest the OC for breaching ICT act by forcefully recording Nusrat’s video statements at the police station on March 27 in the presence of principal Siraj-ud-Doula who had sexually assaulted her.
He submitted that the statements defamed Nusrat, his family members and the whole society as the OC extracted information from Nusrat regarding how she was sexually harassed.
On April 10, the OC was withdrawn after Nusrat’s family alleged that he was not cooperating.
In Dhaka, Jatiya Kanna Sishu Advocacy Forum and Sushashoner Jonno Nagorik formed a human chain on Manik Mia Avenue and in front of Jatiya Sangsad, on Monday protesting against the killing and exemplary punishment of the killers.
New Age correspondent in Feni reported that the Police Bureau of Investigation officials produced Nur Uddin and Shahadat Hossain Shamim before the court of Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Zakir Hossain on Sunday at 3:00pm.
The court recorded statements of the duo until 1:00am on Monday.
While giving statements before the court, both of them admitted that Nusrat was set on fire upon the instruction of principal Siraj, said PBI additional superintendent Taherul Huq Chowhan while briefing reporters after recording their statements early Monday.
He said that the duo provided detailed information about the incident and that they would not disclose them for the sake of further investigation.
Nur was arrested on Thursday night at Bhaluka in Mymensingh and Shahadat from Muktagachha in the same district.
Earlier on Saturday, PBI chief Banaj Kumar Majumder, at a press conference at his Dhanmondi office in the capital, said that they found involvement of at least 13 people, including two females, in the incident of arson attack on Nusrat that caused her death.
He said that a group of four perpetrators, including the madrassah student Shahadat Hossain Shamim and former student Nur Uddin, met with madrassah principal Siraj in jail on April 4 and was instructed to ‘teach Nusrat a lesson’.
Shahadat, president of the madrassah unit of ruling Awami League’s student wing Bangladesh Chhatra League, and Nur were very close to Siraj and the duo led two human chains in Sonagazi demanding immediate release of the madrassah principal.
Siraj was arrested on March 28, immediately after Nusrat’s mother lodged a case against him for sexually harassing her daughter on March 27.
On Monday morning, the jail authorities produced Sonagazi Municipality councillor Maksud Alam before Feni senior judicial magistrate Sharaf Uddin Ahmed as the day was scheduled for a hearing on the investigation officer inspector Md Shah Alam’s petition seeking a 10-day remand for him.
The court allowed the police a five-day remand in their custody for interrogation.
Maksud was arrested on the night of April 11 from Fakirapul area in the capital.
On Monday afternoon, lawyers brought out a procession at Feni Court premises demanding arrest of all the accused in the case and exemplary punishment for them.
Besides, Feni unit of Sushashoner Jonno Nagorik, Sacheton Chhatra Samaj, Multi Soft IT, Grand Huq Tower Traders’ Association held separate demonstrations to press home the demand for justice.