bdnews24.com :
A Dhaka court has acquitted journalist Probir Sikdar in an ICT case filed over ‘defaming’ former LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain on Facebook.
Dhaka Cyber Tribunal Judge Mohammad As-Shams Jaglul Hossain announced the verdict in the 2016 case on Thursday.
Probir Sikdar, in an immediate reaction after the announcement of the verdict, said: “I have received justice.”
In its observations in the decision, the court noted that the ‘victim’ had not stood as the plaintiff in the case, nor had any close friend or relative. Nor did the alleged victim testify in the case as a witness, the judge said.
The case was, instead, filed by someone who had a distant connection to the alleged victim and, as such, did not have the jurisdiction to file the case, the judge said.
Sikdar, son of a Liberation War martyr, published and edited two newspapers. He had also worked for national dailies Janakantha, Samakal and Kaler Kantho.
After being threatened over some of his Facebook posts, the journalist had tried to register a police complaint in Dhaka, highlighting the threats.
On Aug 10, 2015, Sikdar talked about police’s refusal to register the complaint in his Facebook post and blamed former minister Hossain for the threat to his life.
His Facebook status, titled ‘Those who are a threat to my life and will be responsible for my death’, read: “I am clearly saying that the people named below will be responsible for my life being at risk or my death.”
And he named the then LGRD Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain and controversial businessman Moosa Bin Shamsher and war crimes convict Abul Kalam Azad, also known as “Bachchu Razakar”.
An assistant public prosecutor of Faridpur sued Sikdar for libel under the ICT Act, after which police arrested from his office at Dhaka’s Indira Road.
He was taken to Faridpur the same day, where the court remanded him, but was released on bail within 24 hours.
The court had also exempted Sikdar from attending the hearings.
On Mar 16, 2016, police pressed charges in the Faridpur court, which forwarded the matter to the Cyber Tribunal.
The Dhaka Cyber Tribunal judge took cognisance of the charges on Aug 4 of that year.
The state and the defence completed their arguments on Mar 22 of this year. After two delays, the court acquitted Probir Sikdar on Thursday.
“I have seen how the law serves the purpose of the influential during the course of this trial,” said Probir Sikdar.
He said that he had incurred many costs, as the trial had dragged on for six years, in addition to the damage to his family life.
He also spoke of the harassment he faced in police custody.
“I went to the police to receive the protection of the law, but I ended up facing a case instead,” he said.
In response to a question, he said that the court had passively indicated that there were laws to handle false cases.
“Most of the cases under this law are false,” he said.
Asked if he would take any action against the harassment he had faced, the journalist said: “I will.”
