Staff Reporter :
Former Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Sonagazi Police Station Moazzem Hossain once again filed a bail petition with the High Court in a case filed over recording Nusrat Jahan Rafi’s statement on his phone and circulating the video clip on social media without her consent.
His lawyer Rana Kawser filed the petition last week on behalf of Moazzem Hossain. The lawyer said, “The High Court may hear the petition today or tomorrow.”
“Moazzem Hossain is sick. He is a police officer. He will not flee and will face trial if he is granted bail. Bail is sought in those grounds,” added the lawyer.
On July 9, the High Court Bench of Justice Md Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Khizir Hayat rejected his bail petition considering that the petition was not properly moved.
At the same time, the HC passed some observations while hearing the bail petition. The court said, some Deputy Commissioners (DCs) and Officers-in-Charge (OCs) feel themselves landlord as if they were all in all.
Sonagazi Police Station’s former OC Moazzem Hossain has completely failed to protect the life of Madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi and he damaged the image of the police department, the court said.
Nusrat, a student of Sonagazi Islamia Senior Fazil Madrasa in Feni’s Sonagazi Upazila, was set ablaze on April 6 this year allegedly for refusing to withdraw a case filed against the Madrasa Principal, Siraj Ud Doula, for sexually harassing her. She died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on April 10.
On the same day, OC Moazzem Hossain was withdrawn as Nusrat’s family alleged he was not cooperating with them.
During that time, a video clip showing Moazzem asking Nusrat some humiliating questions and released the video clip on social media, drawing widespread criticism. Nusrat had gone to his office to file a complaint against Siraj.
Moazzem was suspended on May 8 for negligence of duty and attached to the office of DIG of Rangpur Range.
Police arrested him from the capital’s Supreme Court area on June 16. He went into hiding after police authorities allowed him to leave the capital, instead of arresting him, two days after a Dhaka court ordered his arrest.
The arrest warrant, issued in on May 27, was widely covered in the media. A tribunal in Dhaka on June 17 rejected the bail petition of OC Moazzem and sent him to jail in connection with the case filed by Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Sayedul Haque Sumon for recording Nusrat’s statement on his phone and circulating the video clip on social media without her consent.
Dhaka Cyber Tribunal Judge Ash Sams Joglul Hossain passed the order after police produced Moazzem in the court in a case filed under the Digital Security Act.
