Staff Reporter :
The Supreme Court on Tuesday fixed October 1 for hearing a leave to appeal petition filed by the government challenging a High Court (HC) order that asked the authorities concerned to give division facilities to renowned photographer Shahidul Alam in jail.
Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Justice M Imman Ali fixed the date after a brief hearing on the petition.
Now, the full-bench of the Appellate Division will hear the petition on October 1.
Shahidul Alam has been getting division facilities in jail since September 7 as per the High Court order passed on September 5, Barrister Tamim Hossain Shaon, a lawyer for Shahidul told the reporters.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam appeared in the court for the government.
On September 17, the Supreme Court upheld a High Court order asking the government to provide first-class division facilities in jail to Shahidul Alam.
The same day, the government filed a petition seeking a stay on the HC order.
But SC Division’s Chamber Judge Justice M Imman Ali dropped the government’s petition from the hearing list and asked to move a leave-to-appeal petition in the court.
The photographer is in prison on charges of “spreading propaganda and false information against the government”.
Shahidul, 63, was picked up by law enforcers on the night of August 5 from his Dhanmondi residence.
The following day, he was placed on seven-day remand by court order. He told the court that he was tortured in custody, the charge police denied.
He was sent to jail on August 13 on completion of his remand.
On September 4, HC bench of Justice Md Ruhul Quddus and Justice Khandaker Diliruzzaman felt “embarrassed” to hear Shahidul’s bail petition in the case against him. The bench, however, did not disclose a reason for it.
