Staff Reporter :
The High Court (HC) on Thursday asked the authorities of Rangpur Medical College Hospital to examine the health condition of Barrister Mainul Hosein under the supervision of the local Chief Judicial Magistrate.
It also asked the DIG (prison) of Rangpur Range to submit a report in this regard by Sunday next.
The HC also asked the authorities concerned to provide adequate security to Barrister Mainul if he is transferred to another jail from Rangpur jail.
The court fixed next Sunday for further hearing on the petitions.
The HC bench of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir passed the order after hearing two separate petitions filed by Barrister Mainul’s wife Saju Hosein.
Saju Hosein filed the petitions on November 7, 2018 with the High Court.
In one petition, she sought order to admit Barrister Mainul to a specialised hospital in Dhaka, saying he is suffering from heart, diabetes, kidney ailments and some other diseases.
In another petition, she challenged the government’s failure and inaction to prevent the recent attack on Barrister Mainul at the Rangpur court compound. Saju Hosein sought a rule from the court as to why the government’s failure to provide adequate security to Barrister Mainul should not be declared illegal, her lawyer Advocate M Masud Rana told The New Nation.
Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain and Advocate M Maud Rana appeared in the court for the petitioner while Deputy Attorney General Kazi Jinat Huq stood for the State.
In the hearing, Advoate Khandker Mahbub said, “The ruling party men attacked Barrister Mainul Hosein on the Rangpur Court premises on November 4. He is under custody. It was a failure of the law enforcing agencies that someone under their custody was attacked. So, we pray to the court to issue rule on their failure.”
“Barrister Mainul has been suffering from various physical complications. But his physical condition deteriorated after the attack on him. So, we pray to the court to pass an order to allow him to admit in a specialised hospital in the capital within three days,” Khandker Mahubub said. Then the Deputy Attorney General told the court that the Attorney General would take part in the hearing on the two petitions. So, they need time. After hearing, the court passed an interim order and fixed Sunday for further hearing on the petitions.
A team of Detective Branch (DB) of police on October 22 arrested former Adviser of the Caretaker Government Barrister Mainul Hosein from Dhaka in a defamation case filed in Rangpur Court. But some other cases were also sued against him before and after his arrest.
Now Barrister Mainul is in Rangpur jail. He was lodged in the jail on November 3.
A Rangpur Court on November 4 rejected a bail petition filed by Barrister Mainul Hosein in a defamation case. But the ruling party men attacked him in the courtyard as he was being brought into the court on the day.
On October 16, Mainul Hosein was connected to a talk show programme, ‘Ekattorer Journal’, through a video conference aired on a private TV channel, Ekattor TV, hosted by Mithila Farzana.
During the talk show, journalist Masuda Bhatti told Mainul Hosein, “You say that you are with the Jatiya Oikya Front as a citizen of the country, but in social networking sites, many people are saying that you are there as a representative of Jamaat-e-Islami.”
Angered by the comment, Mainul Hosein said, “I’m thanking you for your audacity and I want to believe you as ‘characterless’. There’s no question about Jamaat link’s with me and what question you have asked is embarrassing for me.”
After such comments, there was a storm of criticism in the social media.
At least 21 cases have been filed so far in different parts of the country against Barrister Mainul Hosein on the charge of using indecent language against Masuda Bhatti on a live television talk show on October 16.
