UNB, Dhaka :
The High Court on Tuesday stayed for three months the proceedings of the case filed against local rights body Odhikar secretary advocate Adilur Rahman Khan and its director SM Nasir Uddin Elan under the Information, Communication and Technology Act.
An HC division bench comprising Justice Borhanuddin and Justice KM Quamrul Quader passed the order upon petitions filed by the accused, now enjoying bail.
Odhikar on June 10 last year published a report, titled ‘Assembly of Hefajat-e-Islam Bangladesh and Human Rights Violations’, claiming that it had collected the names of 61 people killed during the evacuation of Hefajat activists by law enforcers at Shapla Chattar in the city’s Motijheel area.
On August 10 last year, plainclothes police arrested Adilur Rahman Khan from near his Gulshan residence shortly after the filing of a general diary over the report.
On September 4, 2013, the charge was framed against Adilur and Elan for publishing ‘fake, distorted and defamatory’ information under section 57 (1) (2) of the Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Act that provides punishment of imprisonment for 7-15 years’ and with fine Tk 1 crore.
Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud and M Asaduzzaman appeared for the accused while Deputy Attorney General M Selim stood for the government.
